WatSave ~ Second Questionnaire

THE THIRD ICID/WATSAVE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP - Water Saving: Challenges and Approaches - 7 December, 2004

The 3rd WATSAVE International Workshop on Water Saving: Challenges and Approaches was held in Cairo on the side of the FIRST AFRICAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON DRAINAGE (ARCOD) "Challenges and Opportunities for Enhancing Quality of Life" during the period 6-9 December 2004. A large number of ICID member-countries participated in the workshop. The 3rd WATSAVE came up with a set of recommendations for application (Details). Very useful research papers have been presented in the workshop. Moreover, the 3rd WATSAVE Workshop provoked constructive discussions and suggestions among all participants in the direction of demonstration innovative methods for water saving, strengthening cooperation between member-countries in all WATSAVE activities, and raising awareness of all WATSAVE programs, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Total of (22) Technical Papers were submitted from Egypt, India, Italy, Nigeria, the Netherlands, UK, and USA. All participants emphasized their appreciation to the 3rd WATSAVE Workshop's organization Committee and mentioned that the 3rd WATSAVE Meeting achieved to a great extend the ICID goal and objectives in the area of water saving technologies.

Contribution of the Team to the third World Water Forum (3RD WWF) held in Japan In 2003

As decided at its Montreal meeting, the Work Team was to make a presentation on "Water conservation/ saving in some Mediterranean countries" in 3rd WWF, Kyoto, Japan. Accordingly, Dr. EI-Atfy presented a paper on 20 March 2003, during the session "Middle East and Mediterranean Regional Day" held at Kyoto. The Chairman presented the paper entitled "Water Saving: Success Stories and Lessons learned" (refer to item 2). The team felt that such contributions to different international water events and foras would be a strong carrier of the water saving messages.

Framework for cooperation and interaction among ICID member countries

It was agreed by the team that with a view to develop a framework for water savings/ conservation activities for effective dissemination and information sharing among member countries, emphasis should be on effective training and technology transfer, assessment of impact of such measures, sharing of experiences of good projects, identifying research needs to cover the gaps. The Chairman appreciated the progress on by-Iateral efforts through MoU among NCs of CNCID, ENCID, INCID, and IRNCID and encouraged for more such initiatives to foster the efforts.
Other NCs were encouraged to develop MoUs with other regional NCs so as to exchange experiences of good water saving/ conservation in each others countries. Dr. A. Vidal suggested to explore funds offered through CGIAR's Challenge Program on Water and Food coordinated by IWMI and submit common projects proposals by National Committees. The suggestion was endorsed by the group members and the Chairman will forward it to the PCTA for consideration.

New initiatives on water saving in tropical regions of Asia / Africa / Latin America

The team highlighted the need to create awareness about water scarcity and need to adopt water saving/ conservation measures in tropical regions of Asia/ Africa/ Latin America. The team had proposed to hold a WatSave Workshop exclusively for South East Asia Region.
Mr. D. Datta was requested to coordinate a task force including China, Chinese Taipei, and representatives of other National Committees in the area to prepare themes, objectives and agenda for the workshop. The workshop may be held on the occasion of 57th annual Executive Council meeting scheduled to be held in Malaysia in 2006. The Chairman will consult with the Malaysian National Committee (MANCID) in this regard.