Coastal reservoirs can harness storm water and provide water storage for coastal agriculture when inland reservoirs are insufficient. 

Rapid urbanization requires very large water storages to supply water to growing cities for food and agriculture production and drinking water purposes. Coastal reservoir is an innovative concept of storing flood water from a river system before entering the sea. It is a paradigm shift in water resource management where water is stored downstream of the river, preferably near the river-sea confluence, rather than the conventional method of storing water in upstream dams. All that is needed is an impermeable barrier between salt and fresh water, and the barrier does not need to be as strong as an inland reservoir dam wall. This technique is used in many parts of the world to buffer from climate change, capture coastal flood waters, and offers an attractive adaptation solution for coastal agriculture production and for urban agriculture with opportunities in enhancing food and water security in the Small Island Developing States as well as many coastal zone environments where the majority of the cities today are located in the low lying deltas. These reservoirs could be used for the purpose of securing flood runoff to be used with recycled water in aquifer recharge projects to combat water scarcity and drought for food security and replenish the depleted and saline ground waters.

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Agenda

Introduction: Sasha Koo-Oshima, Deputy Director, Land and Water Division, FAO.

Presentation: Prof Shu-Qing Yang, Secretary and Co-founder of the International Association for Coastal Reservoir Research (IACRR), and Associate Professor at University of Wollongong, Australia. 

Introduction to the Adaptation Fund followed by Q&A: Maher Salman, Senior Land and Water Officer, Land and Water Division, FAO.

Closing remarks: YE Anping, Director, South-South and Triangular Cooperation, FAO.

About the speaker

Prof. Shu-Qing Yang is the secretary and co-founder of International Association for Coastal Reservoir Research (IACRR), Associate Professor at University of Wollongong, Australia. He was a pioneer researcher/designer for the Three-Gorge-dam, China, one of the largest dams in the world. He owns the "coastal reservoir" patent and published the first book about coastal reservoirs in 2004 in the world. In 2005, he helped initiate Shanghai's Qingcaosha coastal reservoir and received the city council's award in 2015. He has generated about 200 publications in water resources engineering, sediment transport, hydraulics, and fluid mechanism. He is the first fellow of IACRR and has received the best paper awards from JHR, IAHR; JHE, ASCE and the 13th APD-IAHR conference.