EXPERT WITNESS IN WATER MANAGEMENT
Services offered for expert witness and evidence base include:
- Water Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
- Flooding and flood risk and hazard assessment.
- Tidal and river hydro projects and impact assessment.
- Water pollution, water quality and sediment transport.
- Water security and sustainable water management.
Roger has worked on a number of public inquiries in the paste, providing independent expert evidence on the transport and concentrations of sewage effluent and toxic waste in estuaries and coastal waters, in the U.K. However, his most renowned experience as an Expert Witness relates to his involvement in an international land reclamation case, Malaysia v. Singapore (2003).
In September 2003 Malaysia submitted a request for provisional measures against Singapore to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), based on Malaysia’s concerns that reclamations being undertaken by Singapore were producing major changes to both the flow regime and sedimentation, and effecting coastal erosion along parts of the Malaysian coast.
ITLOS prescribed that Malaysia and Singapore co-operate and establish a group of independent experts to conduct a joint study to establish the effects of Singapore’s land reclamation works, and to propose appropriate measures to deal with any adverse effects of the works. The Group of Experts (GoE), comprised 4 international experts, two appointed by each country, and with the DHI (Danish Hydraulic Institute) appointed to undertake the detailed hydrodynamic, environmental, morphological and navigation studies.
The studies had to be completed within a year and the GoE reported back to the respective Governments in October 2004. The outcome of the study was that no major impacts were found as a result of the reclamation works, but a number of minor impacts were established and mitigating measures were agreed upon to settle the dispute to the satisfaction of both countries. Both countries agreed that the GoE were instrumental in bringing about an amicable settlement to this dispute.
