Scholars gathered in Beijing to discuss the future of the water environment as part of the International Symposium on Water Modeling (iSymWater 2019), held from Monday to Thursday.

The symposium, hosted by Beijing Normal University and Manchester Metropolitan University, with the support of the National Key Research and Development program and Key Laboratory for Water and Sediment Science, saw the exchange of views from some 140 top experts in environment science from around the world, including China, the UK, the US, Australia, Italy and Japan. Restoration and improvement of water environmental protection and restoration of water ecosystems, both prominent and pressing issues today, sparked heated discussion from the experts. State-of-the-art technical solutions to the problems also were shared among the scholars.

Professor Cui Baoshan, dean of School of Environment at Beijing Normal University, delivers a welcome message at the symposium. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Damage to the water environment is increasingly serious as the economy develops at rocket speed, and reversing damage done to the environment is one of the hottest issues around the globe. The state of water in many parts of the world is still grim, and experts agree that modeling technology still has an irreplaceable role in mitigating or reversing the damage already done.

Professor Liu Haifei, the symposium organizer who teaches at the School of Environment at Beijing Normal University, said traditional water dynamic modeling technology needs to upgrade itself as science and technology marches towards an era of "big data".

"With the sharing of the latest academic findings and acceleration of international cooperation and studies, I hope this symposium has become a novel platform of exchange to solve problems in the water environment," Liu added.