Training programme on Urban Rainwater Harvesting System

Venue: Joydebhur, Bangladesh

Date: (August 21-24, 2017)

CSE water team in collaboration with WaterAid, Bangladesh organized a 4 day training programme on “Urban Rainwater Harvesting System” in Joydebpur, Bangladesh. 

This partnership between CSE and WaterAid in this sector is since 2010 and this year the focus was also on Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning (WSUDP) Sustainable Urban drainage structures (SUDS) apart from rooftop rainwater harvesting. The 4 day training programme included a mix of theory, practical and was conducted based on state of the art teaching – learning tools consisting of interactive sessions, experiential learning using detailed case studies, working in groups on planning and designing and class room lectures. 

The programme included diverse group of around 33 participants including academicians, practising engineers, architects, Officials from organizations like Local Government Engineering Depart (LGED), Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Chittagong Development Authority, (CDA), Dhaka North City Corporation, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

List of participants (click here)

The programme started with inauguration session with representatives from WaterAid (Mr Liaq Ali, director, Policy and Advocacy, Water Aid and Abdullah Al-Muyeed, Technical Adviser-WASH, WaterAid Bangladesh and head of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB), Dr Tanvir Ahmad, Assistant Professor, BUET. Dr. Matto, CSE acknowledged the 7 year partnership with WaterAid. She gave the background about CSE to the participants and also explained about training programme for upcoming days. Mr Liaq Ali, WaterAid Bangladesh gave an overview of training with a purpose for upcoming RWH sustainability in Bangladesh.

The first day covered the overview of water management in Bangladesh along with an extensive session on planning and designing of small scale RWH system involving discussions and interactions. This was followed and supported by a field visit (the next day) to Village education resource centre (VERC), Savar, Dhaka to showcase different components of the system and encourage interaction with stakeholder. 

The last day of the training was followed by macro scale stormwater management which also included one of the sessions by Dr. Mohit Ray, (Vasundhara Foundation, and Calcutta) apart from sessions on SUDS structures. This was followed by suggestion on maintence system by Mr. Syed Azizul Haq, RAiN Forum, Bangladesh. 

The training programme ended with feedback, follow up session. The chief guest for the session was Mr Taqsem A Khan, Managing Director and CEO, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority. Participants appreciated the content, methodology of the training and expressed their interest in WSUDP and SUDS and showed the willingness to further work within their domain. The chief guest acknowledged the initiative taken by CSE and looked forward to work more in the sector especially in collaboration with further universities and institutes for implementation side of the projects. 

WaterAid Bangladesh Coordinator:

Dr. Abdullah Al-Muyeed
Technical Adviser-WASH
WaterAid Bangladesh
House 97/B, Road 25, Block A, Banani, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh
T: +880.2.881.5757, 881.8521, F: +880.2.988.2577
Email: Abdullahal-Muyeed@wateraid.org

Training coordinators:

Dr Mahreen Matto 
Programme Manager 
Water Programme
CSE, New Delhi, India
+91-11-40616000
+91-11-0616000 (Ext:257)
Email: mahreen@cseindia.org

Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla
Programme Director
Water Programme
CSE, New Delhi
Email: srohilla@cseindia.org