José Alberto Tejada-Guibert

José Alberto Tejada-Guibert was born in Trujillo, Peru in 1946. His major specializations are on surface water hydrology and water resources systems analysis and planning.

He obtained his Civil Engineer Diploma (Hydraulics) from the National Engineering University of Lima, Peru. In 1971 he worked for the Peruvian National Rural Water Supply Plan (Ministry of Health) and then attended Stanford University in California, where he was awarded a M.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering/Engineering-Economic Planning Programme in 1972. Thereafter, the International Institute of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering (IHE) in Delft, Netherlands granted him a Diploma in Hydrological Engineering (with distinction) in 1973.

From 1973 to 1976 he worked for the Peruvian Government in the Executive Directorate of Project Olmos, a major irrigation/hydropower project on the northern Peruvian coast, attaining the post of Head, Planning Office. In the period 1976-1978 he worked as Water Resources Systems Engineer for the Peruvian consulting team in the feasibility study of the Puyango-Tumbes Project, a multiple purpose project for sharing an international river in the Peru-Ecuador border. He was a partner in a consulting firm in Peru for eight years (1978-86), where he held the posts of Technical Manager and Head, Systems and Hydrology. During this time he participated in or managed over 20 water resources projects and was the planner of Recreta, a major reservoir in the Peruvian Andes for hydropower flow augmentation with basin wide implications. During the period 1980-83 he was Visiting Professor at the Graduate Programme of the Land and Water Resources Department, National Agricultural University, Lima. In 1985 he was hired by GTZ (German Technical Co-operation Agency) to act as Adviser to the Peruvian Electricity Master Plan.

From 1986 to 1989 he was Research Assistant at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Water Resource Systems with a minor in Economics; his doctoral research dealt with the application of stochastic dynamic programming to the operation optimization of multireservoir systems. From 1990 to 1995, he worked as Technical Expert for the UN Department for Development Support and Management Services, being involved in water master planning at regional and national level in Yemen, 1990-92, and in strengthening the capabilities of the Hydrology Service of Bangladesh, 1993-95. In 1994, the American Institute of Hydrology awarded him the certification of Professional Hydrologist. In addition to producing well over 100 technical reports, he has published in several specialized journals and in proceedings.

Mr Tejada-Guibert joined the Division of Water Sciences in January 1996 as Programme Specialist in-charge of the urban water management actions within the framework of IHP and, more recently, as Deputy Secretary of the IHP.