Water Resources Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya (FTUB) once again held an International Seminar known as ICWRDEP (International Conference of Water Resources Development and Environmental Protection), on 12-13 October 2019.

This international seminar is a biennial event of the Department of Water Resources Engineering FTUB. In this third year, ICWRDEP raised the theme of Multi-Perspective On Water-Related Challenges.

The first day of The 3rd ICWRDEP was held at Prof. Auditorium Ir Suryono, 2nd Floor FTUB Building. After being opened by the Dean of FTUB, Prof. Dr. Ir. Pitojo Tri Juwono, MT, the seminar continued with a discussion session by two speakers.

Keynote Speakers on this first day were the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Prof. Dr. Ir. Anita Firmanti Eko Susetyowati, MT and Prof. Hwa Chien from National Central University in Taiwan.

After the presentation and discussion with two keynote speakers, the event continued with a participant’s paper presentation session on the 4th floor A building of the Water Resources Engineering Department.

On the second day, the seminar which was attended by around 200 participants was held in the TirtaUtama Auditorium, 5th floor of the Water Engineering Building.

Keynote speaker on the second day included Dr. Asadawut Areesirisuk from Rajamangala University of Technology Thailand, Prof. Masaharu Fujita from Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) Kyoto University, and Assoc Prof. Muzamir Hasan from Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia.

Chairperson of the ICWRDEP 2019, Dr.Eng Andre Primantyo H, ST. MT hopes that this international seminar will provide answers regarding challenges in water management according to various perspectives and how to solve them.

“We deliberately invite the bureaucracy so we can give input regarding policies/formulations or the latest technology to respond to existing challenges,” said Andre.

Agreed, Prof. Pitojo when opening the event revealed that the problem of water resources is now getting more complex. As a higher education institution, it becomes an obligation through Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi to answer the solution.

“Water demand continues to increase, while the amount of supply remains the same. So, there is a gab between water supply and demand. This is a complex problem. The rain made excess, but in the dry season, it may cause drought. This requires good water management. By sharing experiences from other countries, we want to give input to the government so that we can minimize the problem, and fix it in the future,” said this Water Resources Expert.

There are about 65 paper titles submitted. The papers are grouped into several sub-themes to be presented and presented in poster form.

The sub-themes include River Engineering & Management, Environmental Engineering & Sanitation, Water Related Disaster Risk Reduction, Water Resources Engineering & Management, and also Coastal Engineering & Management.

The event was closed on Sunday, October 13, 2019, by the Chair of the Water Resources Engineering Department Dr. Ir. Ussy Andawayanti, MS.

Ussy hopes that participants from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, France, the Netherlands, and Malaysia can make ICWRDEP a place for scientific discussion for the water resources community.