On 10-11 November 2021, more than 40 specialists from Central Asia (CA), Slovak state enterprises and private companies, representatives from international organisations and experts in water resources protection and use met online to exchange experience in the field of hydrometeorological services.

The workshop aimed to support the CA countries in studying the European Union (EU) experience in water resources monitoring and was organised jointly by the International Water Assessment Centre (IWAC) and the EU-funded project “European Union – Central Asia Water, Environment and Climate Change Cooperation” (WECOOP).

Slovak specialists introduced the participants of the training to the European experience in collecting, processing, and transmitting data and information on monitoring of surface and underground water resources, modern hydrological forecasting technologies, as well as experience with automated hydrological complexes and regional numerical models.

Participants also discussed the prospects for further collaboration in this field.

Key summaries and recommendations:

The workshop participants acknowledged the relevance and necessity of hosting such events. Following the discussion, participants adopted the following recommendations:

  1. for the Central Asian experts to further study the experience of Eastern European countries in implementation of the world best practices in surface and groundwater monitoring.
  2. for the Slovak side and IWAC to consider the possibility of preparing and implementing a pilot project in CA countries to improve methods of collecting, processing and transmitting data and information on water monitoring, modern technologies for hydrological forecasts, automated hydrological complexes, as well as the development and implementation of regional numerical models of hydrological processes.
  3. for the Slovak side and IWAC to consider the possibility of holding more training workshops for experts from Central Asian countries on current issues of hydrometeorological services, including trainings on special topics for the different groups of experts.

Meeting documents: https://wecoop.eu/events/workshop-hydrometeorological-services/

Photo by Vladislav Ushakov.