On Monday, as many as 50 experts, scientists and managers from Viet Nam, South Korea, Australia, the USA, Thailand, Hong Kong, China and Cambodia gathered for a 3-day international seminar entitled ‘Managing Groundwater in the Asia-Pacific Coastal Region’.  The event is taking place at the University of Da Nang (UDN) and will close tomorrow (19 July).

Participants at the event (Photo: http://vtv.vn)

The event features discussions including groundwater management and investigation in coastal areas, numerical models, the hydrogeology of islands, geochemistry and isotopes, and the negative impacts of saltwater intrusion, climate change and sea level rises on groundwater in coastal areas.

In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Vo Tuan Nhan highlighted the significance of exploiting groundwater to meet the demand for the city’s socio-economic development.  He, therefore, stressed the need for involved individuals and organisations to conduct research into the sources, quantity and quality of groundwater in order to evaluate the potential of this natural resource.