IWHR has become one of the first batch institutes that paid systemic attention to water resource management and research over the world, Peter Goodwin, the president of IAHR, expressed his viewpoint during the IWHR academic week in October 2018. 

1. Your view about the global status quo and trend for sustainable hydro-environment development.

Prof. Peter Goodwin: The priorities and challenges for the Hydro-environment and Hydraulics Engineering global community are captured succinctly within the Sustainability Development Goals developed by the United Nations. Specifically, we live in a world where clean water is a scarce resource and we are experiencing greater variability in the frequency and intensity that this water arrives in our watersheds. Water is essential for human health, food production, economic development and sustaining our natural environment. This was emphasized in an elegant way by President Xi Jinping at the Opening Ceremony of the B20 Summit in Hangzhou (3 September 2016):

“. . . . green mountains and clear water are as good as mountains of gold and silver. To protect the environment is to protect productivity and to improve the environment is to boost productivity.”

The speech then expands on the commitment by China to a green, low carbon and recyclable economy. These priorities are being expressed in a similar manner in many other countries.

These goals face several severe challenges:

(1) Increasing population on landscapes that are already close to the capacity of current land utilization. Increasing populations require more water - either through tapping natural rivers or using existing water resources more efficiently.

(2) Changing land use practices (for example: urbanization, intensive agriculture, road and rail embankments and levees that separate rivers and coasts from floodplains and wetlands) that alter the patterns of rainfall runoff or drainage.

(3) Introduction of invasive (non-native) plant and animal species that out-compete the native flora and fauna. This can change entire ecosystems so that key food sources for important species are diminished.

(4) Transboundary issues need to be addressed in a way that optimizes the outcomes of economic development and ecological recovery that cross geo-political boundaries. Watershed and ecosystems invariably cross local, provincial and sometimes national governments. It is therefore important that hydro-environment experts can structure the science and engineering alternatives in a way that can inform decision-makers and be understood by the public.

(5) Climate Change. Many regions of the world are experiencing unprecedented conditions that have not been experienced since records have been taken. Until the last few years, we made predictions of the magnitude of floods, droughts, highest expected storm surge or wave height based on a careful analysis of the historic record. These predictions were used to design infrastructure to protect society from catastrophic flooding or prolonged droughts. However, the increased variability being experienced in many regions means that we cannot rely solely on the past to predict future conditions. Examples of the severity of the effects of climate change is evidenced by the more that 500 million people living on low-lying river deltas that are increasingly vulnerable to sealevel rise and greater frequency and intensity of storms (Giosan, L. et al., 2014. Nature. 516. 31-33).

These pressures on the environment are not simple and interact with several sectors of the economy and the quality of life. Demands of energy generation, food production, fisheries management, transportation, manufacturing must be balanced against concerns for endangered species, recreation and the natural environment.

The biggest challenge facing the Hydro-environment experts is maintaining and improving the quality of life for society within a healthy earth system. This requires large teams of experts representing many disciplines of engineers, scientists, economists and social scientists to explore and articulate alternative futures based on different management strategies we adopt today in a way to inform the decisions made by policy-makers and leaders.

2. How do you look at the Chinese achievement in this field by now?

Prof. Peter Goodwin: China has some of the largest and most dynamic rivers in the world, for example, the Yellow river transports more sediment to the ocean than any other river. China also has one of the largest populations that depend on these rivers and are impacted in flood and drought events. Therefore, China has a long and illustrious history in the realm of hydraulic engineering, understanding how rivers behave and developing techniques for managing extreme events to minimize the loss of life or property. As an example, one of the marvels in the world for hydraulic engineering is the Dujiangyan Irrigation System that received the 2013 IAHR World Heritage Award. The brilliance of this project, constructed around 256 BC, is not only that the diversion passes through a cut made in the mountain, but that it can divert the waters of the MinJiang River to the fertile Chengdu plains without requiring significant maintenance of sediments at the site of the diversion. The deposition of sediments at the inlet of large water diversions is a major problem elsewhere in the world. This ancient solution has puzzled and delighted the international engineering community for decades.

Chinese expertise continued to flourish in the intervening centuries, often before other countries were even considering water supply and wastewater management. More recently, over the past four decades, China initiated one of the most advanced and aggressive water infrastructure development programs in the world. Starting with the Three Gorges Project, this program has advanced the known technical limits of dam construction, dealing with unprecedented water pressures for hydropower generation and innovative ways of ship passage - such as the new ship lifts using new cable technologies at the Three Gorges Dam. These types of projects inevitably have environmental consequences, and China is developing deep expertise in anticipating, addressing and mitigating impacts on water quality and iconic species such as the Chinese Sturgeon.

3. How do you look at the IWHR achievement in this field over its 60 years of development?

Prof. Peter Goodwin: IWHR has an illustrious history of major contributions to the field of Hydraulic Engineering and Hydro-environment research. The research institute has grown into a comprehensive organization capable of looking at all aspects of water resource development and implications to the river and regional communities. This covers traditional topics such as water resources planning, geotechnical engineering, structures, seismic engineering, and irrigation and drainage and real-time flood prediction. More recently, IWHR has adopted a more comprehensive approach to watershed management that includes resilience to flood and droughts, sustainable hydropower development, water resources in rural areas and environmental response to large water resources infrastructure. IWHR is one of the first institutes in the world to adopt such a holistic view to managing and researching water resources.

4. What is your expectation or wishes for IWHR in the future?

Prof. Peter Goodwin: Firstly, congratulations to President Kuang Shangfu and the leadership team of IWHR on your 60th Anniversary. Over the past few decades you have grown IWHR into an internationally recognized research institution. This has been achieved through exceptional internal management - it is obvious to visitors that this Institute believes in strong teamwork, exemplary research and application of this research to solve some of the most perplexing problems in implementing large infrastructure projects or mitigating adverse consequences to the environment and local communities. This has also been achieved by fostering international and national collaborations, exchanges of scientific information and sharing experiences on engineering solutions on large river systems.

On behalf of the global IAHR community, we look forward to continued and deepening collaborations between IAHR and IWHR. We expect IWHR will continue the pioneering efforts in event forecasting, simulating flood flows and river behavior with sophisticated computer models, designing large structures that protect or benefit people and implementing innovations for enhancing water quality and ecological recovery. We hope that IWHR will continue to grow its significant existing expertise to understand the interaction between water resource development projects with the ecosystem services provided by rivers, watersheds and coastal water systems. We look forward to what IWHR will achieve in the next 60 years.