Highlighting Vitality of Water Resources

crucial need for preservation of water resources

"2011 Water & Tech” was the title of the forum co-hosted by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology from Jan. 26-28 at COEX in southern Seoul to show off the collection of technologies and research on the conservation of water resources in the country.
The Team for Continuous Preservation of Water Resources Technology invested a total of 126.4 billion won from 2001 to 2010 to secure top technologies for the preservation of water resources and has been able to boost its technology-level to equal 80 percent of those of advanced countries, the forum showed.
During the past decade, the intellectual property rights registered came to 293 cases, along with 46 cases of technology contracts and 330 papers on water conservation, showing that the efforts have paid off so much so that the technologies for the controlling system upper region streams in real time and the technologies for water quality control were exported to Indonesia. The technology for the construction of remotely controlled boats to measure water in streams was exported to Britain to secure a base for exports of water conservation technologies, the forum showed.
A number of experts from both home and abroad presented papers on the results of the water conservation technology development at the forum to publicize the team’s work as widely as possible in a bid to speed up the transfer of research results and the technologies and their applications and to make the nation understand the crucial importance of water resources conservation and the significance of the development of water resources preservation technology.
The event consisted of an opening ceremony, a symposium and displays. Experts from home and abroad announced their papers on the research and development of technologies for water resources preservation and conservation to make public the results of the water resources technology team over the past decade and organizations related with the project for cooperation and to share what has been undertaken in the field of water resources preservation.
During the opening ceremony, over 100 people from the government, academia and the water resources technology team, including experts and research staff that participated in various activities, gathered together to celebrate their collective efforts.
At the symposium, which took place on the third floor of COEX, experts on water resources preservation and conservation from both at home and abroad, including Professor T. Koike of Tokyo University, made keynote speeches and presented some 48 papers on the subject to point out the progress that has been made and to share new information in the area of water resources preservation.
Professor Marc Anderson of Wisconsin University at Madison, one of the 10 keynote speakers at the symposium, is dean of the Environment Technology Section and has studied environment-related issues and subjects such as membrane, photochemistry and ultra-capacitor, among others, during his more than 40-year career. He wrote more than seven papers for more than 100 quotations and 23 papers for more than 50 quotations on various subjects related to water resources preservation.
Director Kim Seung of the Water Resources Continuous Preservation Technology Development Project Team received a doctoral degree in agricultural science from the University of Idaho in the United States and has made a substantial contribution to the development of water resources control technology in Korea as the team leader.
Professor Eiich Nakakita of Kyoto University in Japan, one of the keynote speakers, holds a doctorate in science from Kyoto University and made his name in such areas as hydrometeorology, radar water gates and others. He is a greater scholar on weather radar system research and the impact of weather on a regional environment.
The display of the results of the work on water resources preservation by government-run organizations, civil organizations (40) and private companies (55) took place at 120 booths operated by those organizations. nw

(left) Dignitaries at the forum with the subject of “Water & Tech” co-hosted by the Ministries of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Education, Science and Technology from Jan. 26-28 cut the tape to open the forum held at Coex in southern Seoul. Minister Shim Myung-pil of the Office of National River Restoration speaks at the forum.