International Workshop on New technologies for the acquisition of information on transboundary aquifers

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On April 15-16th, IGRAC and UNESCO-IHP organized in Utrecht an international workshop on new technologies and the use of alternative information sources for conducting global groundwater assessments.

For two days, about 35 renowned water experts ofvarious international organizations discussed how innovations in the field of remote sensing and global hydrological modeling can contribute to these assessments. The use of proxy information to estimate global groundwater demand and use was discussed. Furthermore, a number of existing groundwater assessmentprograms such as WHYMAP, IGRAC and GEO were presented. The final session was dedicated to the ‘data for all’ concept, which refers to the ownership and sharing of subsurface data and information generated by oil, mining and watercompanies.

The workshop specifically aimed at how these technologies and programs may contribute to the Transboundary Water Assessment Program planned by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF Worldbank). IGRAC is developing this assessment for GEF in cooperation with others. Results of the workshop will soon be shared via the websites of IGRAC and UNESCO.

Participating organizations were BGR, Deltares, ETH-Zurich,FAO, Fugro, GEF, IGRAC, PBL, Shell, Twente University, UNEP, UNESCO, University of Arizona, University of Frankfurt, University of Texas, Utrecht University, Vitens and WaterWatch.