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An International Workshop cum Exhibition on “Automation & Emerging Skill Requirements for Efficient Water Resources Management” was organised by IASC under Skill India on 29th August, 2019 at New Delhi. The event was supported by the National Hydrology Project. With the advent of the Internet of Things applied to the management and efficient use of water resources, the extensive application of modern automatic instruments & technologies has become indispensable in capturing real time, accurate data and its’ analysis.

This thrust on new technologies has generated a need for skilled manpower in the field of Data Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics. Complex problem solving capabilities, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordination, decision making and cognitive flexibility have emerged as essential skillsets, required for modern-day water management. During the conference Mr. N K Manglik, Senior Joint Commissioner, NHP delivered an insightful presentation on the need for automation and the related skills required in water resources management sector. The Hon'ble Union Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, visited the NHP stall. The event was also graced by Sh. Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Steel.

A 5-day Training of Trainers program on “Water Budgeting Tool for River Basins using Google Earth Engine (GEE) Applications" was organized by NIH at Roorkee in association with the World Bank and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka. The training was held during August 19-23, 2019 under the National Hydrology Project’s Institutional Capacity Enhancement component. The program was attended by 38 Master Trainers. Experts from IWMI delivered the lectures and conducted hands-on sessions. The ToT was the follow-up of a basic GEE course held at the National Water Academy in Pune in November 2018, which is the shorter version of the general GEE module and two advanced GEE modules related to supporting irrigation systems and water resources assessments including disaster risks mapping.

The National Water Academy (NWA), Pune organized the ongoing Basic Hydrologic Sciences course for the Asian Region (2019) in association with the World Meteorological Organization and the COMET Program of UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research). This seven weeks online training program organised under NHP started on 17th June and was completed on 2nd August 2019. The distance learning course is designed to meet the needs of officials who work with hydrologic data, particularly in the areas of flood forecasting and design flood analysis. The course is intended to provide an understanding of the hydrological cycle, runoff processes, unit Hydrograph, flood forecasting, elements of hydrologic modelling, etc. and prepares the participants for further studies in hydrologic analysis and forecasting. The teaching staff of this course comprises core faculty members of NWA and experts in the relevant topics from WMO and COMET-UCAR. The course was attended by 30 Indian and 26 International participants from other Asian countries.

NHP continues to conduct technical audits of hydromet stations to assess the performance of monitoring sites. The linking of existing groundwater stations of Implementing Agencies to India-WRIS is in progress. India-WRIS will be the repository of all data of groundwater monitoring stations. Status and issues related to groundwater studies, initiation or floating of DWLR and Piezometer bids and reviewing the status of PIP activities are being done simultaneously during the visit for Technical Audit.

Five groundwater stations were audited during the visit. Shri Prabakar, Chief Engineer (GW) and his team joined the technical audit. All groundwater stations in Tamil Nadu are manually monitored. The documentation of water level measurements in Tamil Nadu can be an example for other states - all basic or static information of groundwater stations is available in the field diaries, including a list of monitored stations, site route maps, salient features of groundwater stations, lithology of bore wells, water level records, etc. Tamil Nadu has provided static data of 3406 groundwater monitoring stations which will be useful to create stations in India-WRIS.

Seven groundwater stations were audited during the visit, including stations established during HP-II and through State funds. Shri Manohar, Hydrogeologist of the Agriculture Department and his team participated in the technical audit. DWLR and telemetry systems are installed in 37 piezometers established under HP-II project, and currently 33 systems are working well. Puducherry has provided static data of 150 groundwater monitoring stations which will be used to create stations in India-WRIS.

The 6^th R&D Session on Purpose Driven Studies was held during 8-9 August, 2019 at NIH, Roorkee. A total of 12 PDS proposals (new and revised) were presented by the Principal Investigators of various Implementing Agencies and reviewed by the Sub-Committee on PDS. Also, the annual progress of 11 ongoing PDS (out of 16 PDS proposals approved till August 2018) were presented by the respective Principal Investigators and reviewed by the Sub-Committee. Besides the PowerPoint presentations, the Principal Investigators also submitted half-yearly progress reports of their PDS. These reports were reviewed by the TAMC.

A four week tailor-made training course on Applied Groundwater Modelling was organised at UNESCO-IHE, Delft in the Netherlands from 8th July to 2nd August 2019. The training was attended by 25 officers nominated from different Central and State agencies (16 officers from the Central Ground Water Board, one officer from NRSC, Hyderabad, one officer from the Central Water and Power Research Station, two officers each from the State Ground Water Departments of Rajasthan and Karnataka, and one officer each from the State Ground Water Departments of Kerala, West Bengal and Telangana). During the first two weeks, the participants were familiarised with the theoretical background of groundwater modelling and its applied aspects with hands-on practises on demonstration, case studies and some hypothetical exercises on groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling. The participants organised themselves into 13groups and prepared groundwater flow models of their study area from different parts of the country. The progress of the participants was assessed on a daily basis and guidance was provided in order to develop conceptual clarity and efficiency in numerical modelling. The output presented by the participants was appreciated by the Course Coordinator Prof Y. Zhou, from IHE, Delft, who also provided his valuable comments for further refinement of the models developed by the participants. The course ended with the award of certificates to all participants.

Previous versions of the project dashboard on the NHP website have been modified and a drilldown facility has been introduced for better monitoring and control of project information.

The website for the 2^nd International Conference on Sustainable Water Management was launched. All matters related to the event like registration, submission of abstracts, submission of papers can be done through the website. Back-end applications for managing all activities related to the conference have been developed and implemented in this month.

The PIP revision for the Mid-Term Review is underway. Provisions have been made in the MIS to accommodate the Post Mid-Term Review adjustments in the PIP module. It has been upgraded to accommodate the revision/ modification for future implementation.

The NHP team is implementing an online Procurement Tracker for monitoring the procurement process. A new module has been developed and is being rolled out by the IT team to ensure real time tracking of the procurement processes. The same has been done for the Finance modules. Modifications have been made and new features have been added in the existing modules that enable users to generate new types of reports. Audit paras for NPMU users and the related reports and dashboards have been developed.

Tripura has initiated a tender for the refurbishment and maintenance of its temporary office under operational expenses of NHP. Procurement packages for ADCP, drilling of piezometers, command area survey for MI storage projects and the construction of a data centre building are in process and will be floated through the E-tendering portal very soon. During the month of August Dr.Nitish Das, the Procurement Expert for the North-Eastern region visited Tripura to clarify various doubts about the procurement of goods and works. He provided a hands-on demonstration to the team on updating procurement information in STEP. He also met the Principal Secretary, PWD (WR)(Project Coordinator)and the Chief Engineer, PWD (WR), (Nodal Officer) and appraised them about the project status.

Rajasthan has successfully floated the bid for the procurement of equipment for upgrading the material testing labs of the Water Resources Department of Rajasthan, worth INR 50Lacs. The bid for hiring the required services for scanning and digitization of historical data, maps and reports has also been floated. Rajasthan has received 5 ADCPs from the supplier during this period and their operation was demonstrated to the concerned field officers. A workshop at Jaipur was organized for the purpose of sensitizing the field officers on the use of ADCP. A field survey has been completed for the planned RTDAS installation and the civil works are likely to start soon. In this month a team of officers comprised of Mr P. Venkat Raju, Scientist, NRSC, Hyderabad, Shri Srinivas, Deputy Director, Andhra Pradesh Groundwater Department and a representative of Vassar Labs visited Jaipur to demonstrate the APWRIS system to the Secretary of the Water Resources Department and officers of the State IT and Groundwater Departments.