More than twenty water-resource management practitioners and researchers from China, In-dia and Nepal participated in a five-day training on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) models organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Koshi Basin Programme (KBP) in Kathmandu 29 February to 4 March 2016.

As Senior Advisor to Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), Ajit Samaiyar. Samaiyar works with the government on disaster and water management related policies and his role is to make information clearer and easier to use for decision makers.

‘We need to simplify knowledge sharing so that policy makers can find it useful’, Mr Samaiya said.

Samaiyar and KBP trainers introduced the capabilities of WEAP and SWAT tools to assess water availability and demand to support Koshi Basin’s management. Practitioners and re-searchers received hands-on training on WEAP and developed a working knowledge of SWAT applied to the Koshi Basin.

WEAP is a user-friendly software tool that takes an integrated approach to water resource planning. SWAT is a hydrological model, which quantifies the different hydrological processes in a catchment. These tools help to develop a knowledge base for assessing current and future water availability and security.

Rama Nanda Prasad Yadav, Director General of Department of Irrigation of Nepal was assessment of the software was positive.

‘The WEAP model is of great importance especially for those involved in water resource planning’, Mr Yadav said.

KBP gained experience using these tools in early 2013, when the team carried out a first-of-its-kind study on future climate change scenarios, water availability and possibilities for agricultural adaptation in Koshi Basin.

The results of these models showed available water in the Koshi basin is largely untapped and a huge potential to use water from the Koshi basin for both development and economic perspectives existed.