Difference between revisions of "Assela Pathirana"

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Seminar titled '[[I can teach as much as I like but does it lead to learning? Musings on teaching learning and related things]]' given 2012-MAR-29 at UNESCO-IHE Water colloquium.
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==Urban adaptation in rapidly growing cities need a paradigm shift==
[[File:kuznet_framework_for_scgs.png|thumb|500px]]
We have been working with rapid developing cities like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%E1%BA%A7n_Th%C6%A1 Can Tho], vietnam ([https://scholar.google.nl/scholar?as_q=can+tho&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=pathirana&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5 see our work]) regarding adaptation. Here we intentionally use the term "Urban Adaptation" instead of more common "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_adaptation Climate Adaptation]". The reason for that is, in cities like Can Tho (or any other Secondary City in the Global South - SCGS), climate change -- while being extremely relevant and important -- is only one of many pressures that they have to deal with in adaptation; Land-cover change, rapid population increase, increasing pollution are some others.
In these two part series, we argue the importance of changing the way we look at urban adaptation in SCGS. Simply put, we are in a context that is a combination of high urgency and high uncertainty. But, we still use 'predictive' planning approaches that works well only in contexts of good predictability and less uncertainty. While there are multiple reasons  (historical, cultural, economic) for this, it is important to start the discussion on how to change that to a more 'adaptive' -- or as we call it 'agile' approach. That is the story of these two articles. [[Urban_adaptation_in_rapidly_growing_cities_need_a_paradigm_shift|read more...]]
==The book on Climate Change, Extreme Rainfall and Urban Drainage==
==The book on Climate Change, Extreme Rainfall and Urban Drainage==
[[File:igur_cc_rain_book.gif|thumb|400px]]
[[File:igur_cc_rain_book.gif|thumb|400px]]
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IMHEN conducted the project "Impact of climate change  on  water  resources  and  adaptation measures" sponsored by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark  with the participation  of  consulting  experts  from  the Danish  Hydraulic  Institute  (DHI)  and  the participation of many Vietnamese agencies. [[Vietnam: Impact of climate change on water resources and adaptation measures|read more]]
IMHEN conducted the project "Impact of climate change  on  water  resources  and  adaptation measures" sponsored by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark  with the participation  of  consulting  experts  from  the Danish  Hydraulic  Institute  (DHI)  and  the participation of many Vietnamese agencies. [[Vietnam: Impact of climate change on water resources and adaptation measures|read more]]
==Refresher Seminar on Asset Management==
[[image:oude_kerk_clock_delft.jpg|thumb|200px]]
We conduct a ten day refresher seminar on Asset Management of Urban Water Systems. It is open for the UNESCO-IHE Alumni outside Zambia. Fully paid scholarships available. Non-Alumni can also apply, but only as paid participants. [[refersh2011|Read More..]]




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==Urbanization not only heats up the cities, but could increase extreme rainfall==
[[File:heat_maps.png|thumb|450px|Latent heat and sensible heat flux maps for Mumbai (Simulation)]]
On 21 July 1999, Nerima-ku region of Tokyo received an unprecedented 111 mm of rainfall in one hour! Later studies lead to the conclusion that this heavy rainfall development was aided by urban heating due to the [[wikipedia:urban heat island|urban heat island]] effect of the Tokyo city.
With the cities in the world increasing in size at a phenomenal rate, the question whether larger urban footprints could enhance extreme rainfall is no longer solely an academic one. [[Urbanization not only heats up the cities, but could increase extreme rainfall.|Read more..]]


==Using Wiki in Higher-Education: Application in organizing research groups==
==Using Wiki in Higher-Education: Application in organizing research groups==
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I wanted to make it possible to call EPANET2 and EPA-SWMM5.0 procedures from python. Following is the first attempt: [[EPANET-Python|Read More...]]
I wanted to make it possible to call EPANET2 and EPA-SWMM5.0 procedures from python. Following is the first attempt: [[EPANET-Python|Read More...]]


 
==Ecosystem value of SuDS==
We analyse the implementation of  Sustainable Drainage Systems  (SuDS)  as a  solution to better
manage storm water runoffs and reduce urban flooding, and at the same time provide significant
Ecosystem Services (ES). ES vary from temperature control at urban and building scale to ma in water
savings, depending on the type of SuDS considered. [[Ecosystem benefits of SuDS|read more]]


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Revision as of 15:38, 1 September 2017


Random musings on various topics: Climate and water security, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), IT tools, Computer programming and Web-Applications, Citizen Science, ... Views are personal!

Urban adaptation in rapidly growing cities need a paradigm shift

Kuznet framework for scgs.png

We have been working with rapid developing cities like Can Tho, vietnam (see our work) regarding adaptation. Here we intentionally use the term "Urban Adaptation" instead of more common "Climate Adaptation". The reason for that is, in cities like Can Tho (or any other Secondary City in the Global South - SCGS), climate change -- while being extremely relevant and important -- is only one of many pressures that they have to deal with in adaptation; Land-cover change, rapid population increase, increasing pollution are some others.

In these two part series, we argue the importance of changing the way we look at urban adaptation in SCGS. Simply put, we are in a context that is a combination of high urgency and high uncertainty. But, we still use 'predictive' planning approaches that works well only in contexts of good predictability and less uncertainty. While there are multiple reasons (historical, cultural, economic) for this, it is important to start the discussion on how to change that to a more 'adaptive' -- or as we call it 'agile' approach. That is the story of these two articles. read more...


The book on Climate Change, Extreme Rainfall and Urban Drainage

Igur cc rain book.gif

Some members of International Group on Urban Rainfall (IGUR) of IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage[1] has produced a book on the topic on the influence on climate and other forms of future change on extreme rainfall and the implications on urban drainage systems.

In addition to a state-of-the-art overview of existing methodologies and relevant results related to the assessment of the climate change impacts on urban rainfall extremes as well as on urban hydrology and hydraulics, it contains a number of tutorials on how to use the described techniques in practice. One example is an easy-to-use tutorial on how to use [Category:WRF_Model|WRF model] on personal computers. This is a similar to -- but very much improved (therefore easier to use) -- the framework described in the article "Running WRF Model on Windows". read more...

SWMM5-Python

QT4Agg Swmm5 python.png

This is a python module for running SWMM5 model via python and extract results as python objects. Read more..

IMHEN Report on Climte Change in Vietnam

(C) Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment (IMHEN), Vietnam.

IMHEN conducted the project "Impact of climate change on water resources and adaptation measures" sponsored by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark with the participation of consulting experts from the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) and the participation of many Vietnamese agencies. read more



Urbanization not only heats up the cities, but could increase extreme rainfall

Latent heat and sensible heat flux maps for Mumbai (Simulation)

On 21 July 1999, Nerima-ku region of Tokyo received an unprecedented 111 mm of rainfall in one hour! Later studies lead to the conclusion that this heavy rainfall development was aided by urban heating due to the urban heat island effect of the Tokyo city.

With the cities in the world increasing in size at a phenomenal rate, the question whether larger urban footprints could enhance extreme rainfall is no longer solely an academic one. Read more..


Using Wiki in Higher-Education: Application in organizing research groups

Wiki in edu fig 2.png

This is a natural extension of the story of this web site. I started this web site in 2006 hacking MediaWiki software. That was just before I moved from Japan to Netherlands and started working at UNESCO-IHE. From the end of 2006, I used the same contraption to support my research group at UNESCO-IHE (which consisted of five six masters students every year, myself and one or two other faculty members). The experiment completed its fifth year in 2011. I was thinking this is the time to document the experience when I came to know that Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Journal is publishing special issue on Hydrology education in a changing world]. Recently the article finished the review cycle and was published in HESS. Read More ...

Improving Drinking Water Quality without Compromising Long-term Safety

Treating water with chlorine is a time-tested way of ensuring biological safety of drinking water. However, excessive chlorination creates chlorination by-products, that are known to cause long-term risk of cancer. We attempted to make a safe compromise.

We integrated EPANET2.0 (a steady-stage, demand-driven water distribution network model), a particle back-tracking algorithm (can trace the origin of water delivered at any demand point in the network), chlorine and disinfection by product model and a multi-objective optimization algorithm to enable computing the optimal water treatment, minimizing long-term chemical risk (represented as cancer treatment cost.) Read more...

EPANET-Python

QT4Agg Epanet pressure.png

When I started teaching programming for water professionals at UNESCO-IHE, I was compelled to use C/C++ as the language. This is due to the fact that EPANET2.0 and EPA-SWMM5.0 (Two main programes, students in my department had to learn) were written in C language. However, C/C++ is a horrible first language. Students have to cover at least three days of learning of arcane syntax and rules before they begin to write some semi-useful code. On the other hand, if I could conduct the classes in Python, they will see the `light' within a few hours! They can start doing interesting and useful things from the very beginning of the study. What a way to stimulate learning!

I wanted to make it possible to call EPANET2 and EPA-SWMM5.0 procedures from python. Following is the first attempt: Read More...

Ecosystem value of SuDS

We analyse the implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) as a solution to better manage storm water runoffs and reduce urban flooding, and at the same time provide significant Ecosystem Services (ES). ES vary from temperature control at urban and building scale to ma in water savings, depending on the type of SuDS considered. read more

SITES ON THE SERVER

[ Family web | Assela's web | Chandani's web | Medhini's web | Ayumie's web ]