1^st Global Geotechnical and Water Resource Engineering Summit September 18-19, 2017 , Hong Kong

Water in rivers, aquifers, and lakes naturally contains many dissolved materials, depending on atmospheric inputs, geological conditions, and climate. These materials define the water’s chemical characteristics. Itsbiological characteristics are defined by the flora and fauna within the water body, and temperature, sediment load and colour are important physical characteristics. Water “quality” is a function of chemical, physical, andbiological characteristics but is a value-laden term because it implies quality in relation to some standard.

Watershed management is an adaptive, comprehensive, integrated multi-resource management planning process that seeks to balance healthy ecological, economic, and cultural/social conditions within a watershed. It takes into account both ground and surface water flow, recognizing and planning for the interaction of water, plants, animals and human land use found within the physical boundaries of a watershed.

Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities made to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource, to protect the water environment, and to meet current and future human demand. Population, household size, and growth and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change have increased pressures on natural water resources especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation.

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of engineering dealing with the design, construction, analysis offoundations, slopes, retaining structures, embankments, tunnels, levees, wharves, landfills and other systems that are made of or are supported by soil or rock. It plays a key role in all civil engineering projects built on or in the ground, and it is vital for the assessment of natural hazards such as earthquakes, liquefaction, sinkholes, rock falls and landslides.

Hydrology is a branch of Earth Science. The importance of hydrology in the assessment, development, utilisation and management of the water resources, of any region is being increasingly realised at all levels. It was in view of this that the United Nations proclaimed the period of 1965-1974 as the International HydrologicalDecade during which, intensive efforts in hydrologic education research, development of analytical techniques and collection of hydrological information on a global basis, were promoted in Universities, Research Institutions, and Government Organisations. The World’s total water resources are estimated at 1.36 × 108 Μ ha-m. Of these global water resources, about 97.2% is salt water mainly in oceans, and only 2.8% is available as fresh water at any time on the planet earth. Out of this 2.8% of fresh water, about 2.2% is available as surface water and 0.6% as ground water. Even out of this 2.2% of surface water, 2.15% is fresh water in glaciers and icecaps and only of the order of 0.01% is available in lakes and streams, the remaining 0.04% being in other forms. Out of 0.6% of stored ground water, only about 0.25% can be economically extracted with the present drilling technology.

Hydrometeorology is the science which deals with the movement of water and water vapour in the atmosphere. At the boundary between hydrology and meteorology, hydrometeorology produces an ever more advance knowledge about the water cycle. In general, this cycle is essential to life on earth, but its extremes can be very devastating. Hydrometeorology helps understanding the complex interactions between the weather and the water resources of our planet, in view to harness their power and to inhibit its threats. Hydrometeorology is in need of huge amounts of data collected by hydrological monitoring networks, meteorological monitoring stations, precipitation radars, satellites and further sensing systems.

Eco hydrology is the study of hydrology focused on ecological aspects of hydrological cycle. Eco hydrology is elements of ecology with hydrology and investigates the effects of hydrological processes on the distribution, structure, and function of biota, and on the effects of biotic processes on water-ecosystem processes. These interactions may take place within water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, or on land, in forests, deserts, and other.

Ground water is widely distributed under the ground and is replenish able resource unlike other resources of the earth. The problems in Ground Water Investigation are the zones of occurrence and recharge. The modern trends are to create more opportunity for recharge of ground water from natural sources like rain, percolation dams, etc. The ground water is free from pollution and the ground water storage is free from atomic attacks.

Fluid mechanics is involved in nearly all areas of Civil Engineering either directly or indirectly. Some examples of direct involvement are those where we are concerned with manipulating the fluid. Sea and river (flood) defences; Water distribution and sewerage (sanitation) networks, Hydraulic design of water/sewage treatment works; Dams; Irrigation; Pumps and Turbines; Water retaining structures. And some examples where the primary object is construction - yet analysis of the fluid mechanics are essential Flow of air in / around buildings; Bridge piers in rivers; Ground-water flow. Notice how nearly all of these involve water.

Geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data. The acronym GIS is sometimes used for geographical information science or  geospatial information studies to refer to the academic discipline or career of working with geographic information systems and is a large domain within the broader academic discipline of Geo informatics. Remote sensing is the process where the Remote sensors collect data by detecting the energy that is reflected from earth. These sensors can be on satellites or mounted on aircrafts. The electromagnetic radiation is normally used as an information carrier in remote sensing. Remote sensors gather information by measuring the electromagnetic radiation that is reflected, emitted and absorbed by objects in various spectral regions, from gamma-rays to radio waves.

Environmental engineering deals with the combination of sciences and engineering principles to improve thenatural environment, to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to clean up pollution sites. Environmental impact assessment is the formal procedure used to anticipate the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or project prior taking the decision to move forward with the proposed action.

Climate change impacts on hydrology and water resources. Even in the absence of a human-induced climate change, hydrological behaviour will vary not only from year to year but also from decade to decade. They show that natural multi-decadal (30-year) variability in average annual runoff is high across most of Europe and that this natural variability in runoff in mid-latitude Europe is greater than the simulated signal of climate change. In northern and southern Europe, the magnitude of climate change by the 2050s is greater than the magnitude of natural variability. Whereas in other areas, the climate change signal will be larger than past experience.

Geology is the study of the earth (geo means earth, and ology means study of). This is a very simple definition for something so complex. Geology involves studying the materials that make up the earth, the features and structures found on Earth as well as the processes that act upon them. Geology also deals with the study of the history of all life that's ever lived on or is living on the earth now. Studying how life and our planet have changed over time is an important part of geology. Geologists study Earth processes: Many processes such as landslides, earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions can be hazardous to people. Geologists work to understand these processes well enough to avoid building important structures where they might be damaged.