My first visit to China was in 1984 when I visited Tongji University, Shanghai, to deliver a keynote presentation on modelling disinfection processes in water supply systems.
I was subsequently appointed an honorary professor at the university and have since collaborated with many researchers on water science and engineering across China, including the universities of: Tongji, Tianjin, Tsinghua, Sichuan, Wuhan, Hohai, and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), and Yangtze Institute for Conservation and Development (YICODE) at Hohai University, where I am currently Chair Professor.
Over the past 38 years I have observed remarkable developments in Water Science and Engineering across China and these developments have now led to China being regarded as one of the pioneering countries in the world in my field. Some examples of key developments are summarised in my recent experiences since 2012.
Since 2012 I have worked closely with Prof. Xia Junqiang and his team at Wuhan University on developing state-of-the-art computational models for predicting flooding processes in urban areas. The models were first refined to include more accurate methods of predicting water levels and inundation extent for extreme flood events.
Using these model refinements in the UK, my team at Cardiff University were able to show much more accurate predictions of monitored extreme flood events and where other models had underpredicted the peak water levels and extent of flooding for two major floods, including the internationally renowned Boscastle flood of 2004.
In parallel with these model developments, we worked together on developing new formulae for predicting the hazard risk and safety of vehicles and people, including adults and children, moving in extreme flood events. When vehicles start to move in floods, or when people (particularly children) lose their footing in floods, then the impact of floods invariably becomes much more serious and potentially leading to loss of life and/or severe damage to infrastructure.
These formulae were derived from fundamental fluid dynamics and calibrated and tested in laboratory flume studies, undertaken in the laboratories at Wuhan and Cardiff universities. The new formulae have now been included in computer models for predicting flood hazard safety of vehicles and people in extreme flood events. These collaborative research and development projects were part funded in part through the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).
During the period 2011-15 I had the privilege of being elected President of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). This is the oldest association world-wide for water related activities and in 2012 the IAHR needed to find a new international home. I led discussions with the IWHR and in 2015 the Head Office of IAHR was launched in Beijing, at IWHR.
The establishment of the IAHR Office has been extremely successful, both for IAHR and China. Since the launch of the Beijing Office the number of participants from China in IAHR activities have increased significantly, and this has helped raise China’s international profile and communication of its research and engineering achievements in the water sector in China.
Along with the establishment of the Beijing Office, IAHR moved a major part of its business activities to Beijing, particularly its support and management of the membership, Technical Committees, and IT maintenance and developments. The contributions from IWHR and the considerable expertise and commitment of IAHR staff in the Beijing Office have been exceptional.
Just to give one example of the success of the IAHR Beijing Office, I have worked closely with the team to deliver 6 webinars over the past two years on Global Water Security. These webinars have attracted typically over 5,000 participants per webinar from around the world and with the total number of presentation views exceeding 50,000 globally. These statistics are impressive in the global water sector.
In late 2019, IAHR was attacked by a malware virus that devastated both the IAHR website and its membership management system. The challenges that this virus posed for our association were enormous and, together with the challenges of COVID, the IAHR Beijing Office staff developed a new website, a membership management system, and a unique online conferencing platform, which was used to organise IAHR’s first ever webinar for the World Water Day in 2020.
This new system has proven to be most robust and effective, and this webinar alone has attracted over 24,000 views. The establishment of the IAHR Beijing Office has been a major success story for our association and I am proud to have been part of the team that established this Head Office in April 2015.
In 2019 I was honoured to be elected a Foreign Member of the CAE and following appointments as Chair Professor at Hohai University and the YICODE, I have become increasingly engaged in China’s involvement in water security, both nationally and internationally, and in the international development of coastal reservoirs or lagoons for water supply and tidal energy generation.
Through chairing IAHR’s Technical Committee on Global Water Security and collaboration with Hohai University and YICODE, I am currently involved in organising two inaugural international conferences in 2023, including the 1st IAHR and 4th CAE International Conference on Global Water Security and Sustainable Development, and the 1st International Conference on Coastal Reservoirs and Sustainable Water Management.
China has made great strides in coastal reservoirs for the supply of good quality water, such as Qingcaosha Reservoir, in the Yangtze Estuary, supplying over 7 Mm3 of freshwater daily to Shanghai. Collaborative research with Hohai University and YICODE is now focusing on looking at the interaction of groundwater and saltwater penetration in the estuary and the impact of climate change and sea level rise on increased saltwater penetration.
Collaboration with YICODE has also led to the production of a video presentation to promote some of the key challenges and opportunities gained through delivering improved water security, both within China and globally.
In summary, my experience of working in collaboration with Chinese researchers and engineers over a period of nearly 40 years, and particularly over the past decade, has been rewarding and particularly fulfilling, and I have made many lifelong Chinese friends.
