The IAEA/RCA Mid-Term Progress Review Meeting of the RCA Project on Assessment of Trends in Freshwater Quality Using Environmental Isotopes and Chemical Techniques for Improved Resource Management is to be held on 24-28 March 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, in cooperation with the Government of Thailand through Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT).

The global overview of water availability versus the population stresses the continental disparities, and in particular, the pressure put on the Asian continent, which supports more than half of the world’s population with only 36% of the world’s water resources. Presently, Asia has the highest number of people without access to clean drinking water (65%) and about 80% lack access to proper sanitation.

Many of the participating countries indicated a clear need to develop regional monitoring networks and database on isotopes and chemical constitutes of surface water and groundwater. The start has been made through the relevant RCA projects to achieve this goal for sound scientific understanding of various components of the water cycle, trends in water quality, setting up of early warning indicators for corrective management decisions. The long-term observations are expected to benefit the region and its countries enormously in their policy decisions. The new project attempts to fulfill the gaps in information availability, expand the efforts into development of full-fledged regional database on water quality for the benefit of policy makers and researchers alike. General objectives of this project are to develop technical know-how about the application of nuclear techniques in the end-user departments facilitating development of baseline database for sustainable applications.

For more information please email Ms. Sirinart Laoharojanaphand, TINT, at sirinart@tint.or.th or sirinart@oaep.go.th.