ADCP Workshop in Jinja-Uganda

Credible and relevant hydrometric data are essential for supporting policy and decision making regarding the scare Nile water resource. As part of its capacity building program, the project organized a workshop on the use of the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) for discharge measurement from 23 to 27 January 2006 in Jinja, Uganda.

The workshop was facilitated by qualified hydrometric professionals from the Water Resources Management Department in Uganda, who were previously trained by the project. They took great pride and pleasure in training their colleagues from Rwanda. This approach illustrates the project policy to train trainers, and to build on the skills available in the Nile basin. By combining the experience and expertise of hydrometric professionals from all over the basin, a strong regional user base is built with the aim to reduce the need for outside support.

The measurement of unsteady flows in rivers has been a problem faced by hydrologists for many years. The classical method uses a conventional current meter operated from a cableway. A single measurement for a wide river can take several hours to complete and the dynamic nature of floods in the sub-tropical zones imposes a serious time constraint on this method.

The ADCP represents a new methodology for measuring discharges in rivers. The instrument applies the Doppler effect to calculate flow velocities. Operated from a moving boat or float, it does not require the establishment of a cableway. The result is a fast and flexible method for profiling currents and measuring river flows.

The workshop introduced ADCP operating principles and provided a consistent approach to collecting ADCP discharge data. Theoretical sessions were alternated with hands-on measurement exercises in the field.

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