Water Resources Research Act Program

Principal Investigators: Dr. Myeong-Ho Yeo

Abstract: The management and allocation of water resources have always been considered as one of the most significant endeavors in human society since water plays a vital role in all natural and environmental systems of the Earth. Information on the variability in time and space of rainfall and on the resulting runoff characteristics is thus essential for the planning, design, and water resources management. For instance, daily/monthly precipitation time series are commonly used for the assessment of the available water resources in a region, and the extreme rainfall amount for a given return period is required for the estimation of flood for the design of hydraulic structures. However, almost all river basins on the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) do not have a network of rainfall and flow measurements to provide a sufficient record of observed data, estimating accurate hydrological responses. Rainfall records have been collected by various governments since 1985. Due to short or incomplete records, it is however impossible to be used for estimating the available water resources on the island. Consequently, characterizing watersheds on the island for the sustainable water supply was identified as a high priority concern at the Advisory Council Meeting for the FSM held in Kosrae Island in October 2019. The water collected from surface water sources generally requires heavy treatment processes to reduce its turbidity, remove micro-organisms, and odor. Nevertheless, there is no one who was trained on water quality testing and sampling with not enough facilities. In addition, the Advisory Council Meeting 2019 requested a training course on ArcGIS for the development planning. To maintain the monitoring system consecutively and to test water quality at local sites, it has been recognized as a high priority work to conduct training courses. The proposed courses will cover the water quality test, the maintenance of the monitor systems, and to implement GIS data. They fall within the category of Research and Education/Professional Training Needs for the FSM, respectively. The operators for the measurement instruments do not require official certification, but training can be done by an instructor. The immediate objectives of this phase are to set up the monitoring systems for daily rainfalls and stream flows on the island and to train personnel. The following works cover gathering the measured records and storing them for the public purposes. Building a database and/or website will be required for continuously providing the water resources information. From the information provided by this project, further research works will be suggested for the development of duration curve, the development of average and low flow, and the wastewater treatment plant design.