Water Quality and Sanitation Training Program 2013 concluded successfully on Nov. 15, 2013. This program was organized by CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CAS-TWAS CEWE) affiliated with Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy Sciences (CAS). Totally 30 participants working in government departments, water service companies and other related institutions, from 20 countries including Cambodia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, etc, attended this program during Nov 04 - 15, 2013.
The CAS-TWAS CEWE, which aims to assist in the human resource capacity building and technology transfer to the developing countries, was established in March, 2013 at RCEES. The Water Quality and Sanitation Training Program 2013 was the first formal training course organized by CAS-TWAS CEWE. In order to ensure the success of the training program, an active working group was set up to design the course structure and choose the lecturers. Finally, a training program including four parts: lectures, facility visiting, a tour to China Yixing Industrial Park for Environmental Science and Technology (ES&TP) and four workshops, was formulated, which permits the trainees to have a comprehensive understanding of the progress of China in the areas of water and sanitation and know how to transfer the technologies and experiences to their own countries.
Before the lectures, all of the trainees were invited to give a presentation on the sanitation situations in their own countries, which could allow the trainees to learn from each other. The lectures include policy, planning, strategy, governance, management, technologies, equipment and quality inspection in the water and sanitation areas. The government officials, utility leaders, researchers from RCEES and other institutions were invited to give the lectures. The lecturers showed great enthusiasm and shared their rich experiences, impressing the trainees deeply. The trainees were very active in asking questions and exchanging ideas with the lecturers.
The 4 workshops were focusing on the topics of south-south cooperation, As removal technology, environmental equipments and water business, respectively. During the workshop, the trainees expressed the strong needs in organizing the training courses in their own countries since this will allow more people to benefit. Some trainees said that many technologies developed in China, such as the As-removal technology, were suitable for their countries and expressed expectations in developing technical cooperation programs in the future. Some companies in water business showed strong interests in attending the workshop because they were considering to conduct business in abroad. The visits to water supply and sewage treatment facilities, factories of water treatment chemicals and equipment and an As removal facility, etc. have impressed the trainees deeply. The tour to ES&TP, located at Yixing City, Jiangsu Province has allowed the trainees to better understand the development of China’s industry in the water and environmental area. The closing ceremony was hold in the building of Beijing Origin Water Technology Company.
During 12 days of training, the trainees came with expectation and returned with a good memory. Through the lectures, site visits and workshops, they have learned a lot of China’s experiences in the water and sanitation area. The training course received strong supports from RCEES, lecturers, and volunteer teams consisting mainly of the RCEES graduate students. In the program, the CAS headquarter, IWA Beijing office, Water Industry Market, ES&TP and Beijing Origin Water Company, etc., also offered great helps.
Besides training, CAS-TWAS CEWE is also promoting technology transfer to the developing countries. CAS-TWAS CEWE and Bangladesh Academy of Sciences are discussing the possibility to initiate a joint research on As removal in Bangladesh. An expert team will dispatched to Bangladesh for field investigation. Meantime, CAS-TWAS CEWE is trying to cooperate with African countries to improve treatment technologies for drinking water. More activities are planned for 2014.
