An expert training for the two water utilities (MWA and PWA) in Bangkok was conducted from December 13 to 15. The aim of the expert training is to demonstrate how the outcomes (in the form of technical applications or tools) from the Flood and Drought Management Tools (FDMT) project could be applied by the Thai water utilities, and at the same time receive feedback on the current development.

The Metropolitan Water Authority (MWA) serves water to Bangkok, Nonthaburi Province, and Samut Prakan Province with the main intakes at the Chao Phraya River and from the Mae Klong Dam in Tha Muang District. The Provincial Water Authority (PWA) is responsible for the production and distribution of potable water that meets WHO standards to 74 provinces throughout Thailand—all except Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Nonthaburi—which are served by the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority.

The expert training demonstrated the use of the outcomes from the project targeting the water utilities. This included an application which provides data and information on climate, which can be used in data sparse areas of Thailand. The aim is to make different types of climate data available for the water utilities and is especially useful where there is a lack of station data. Another technical application provided a library of indicators to guide water utilities towards selecting indicators for catchment related issues such as climate change, flood or drought events; the web based tool provides valuable information regarding the indicators for the utilities. An initial version of a water safety planning support tool was demonstrated. The web based application will assist water utilities with the Water Safety Plan (WSP) process. It aims to provide a risk based overview of all the components in the water supply system and assist with the implementation of control measures and action plans. Finally, a technical application around basin planning was also explored for its applicability to the utility context. The tool enables an evaluation of investments and planning options within the water utility’s catchment area, using an underlying water resource model to evaluate the impact of different types of investments within the catchment as new water supply intake, irrigation schemes, urban areas and climate change. The impact is reported in the form of indicators documenting the supply reliability for the different sectors.

Expert training – day 1. The first day of the expert training was conducted at the Metropolitan Water Authority with participants from different departments within the water authority. The focus was on how the project could support the ongoing WSP process within MWA, with specific focus on the risk management part of the WSP process.

Expert training – day 2. The second day of the expert training was conducted at the Provincial Water Authority which have the challenges of having to plan for water distribution in a large part of Thailand with more than 200 regional water works in operation. The focus on the technical training was on the catchment and basin aspect of the water utility through i) data and information availability through satellite data to supplement the existing observation network, ii) support to the WSP process through the web-based WSP tool and iii) catchment and basin assessments using the basin tool (still under development) enabling PWA to evaluate the impact on the water availability from different types of investments in the Chao Phraya basin. There training yielded a lot of constructive feedback to the project which will be used to further tailor the outcomes.

Expert training – day 3. The technical training was finalised with a half day workshop at MWA with participation from both MWA and PWA. MWA and PWA presented the status on their ongoing WSP work which was followed by a discussion and knowledge sharing session. The workshop was ended with a feedback session on the training and the presented tools which resulted in a number of constructive comments which will be evaluated and used by the project in the coming months.

                                                                 Half-day workshop with MWA and PWA