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YWP
What can’t be measured can’t be managed
A nationwide instalment of smart water meters and submetering would help detect leakages, account for lost water, and improve billing accuracies. By Lina Lukusa
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The National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP) has set a non-revenue water target at a national rate of 26% of supplied water for 2030. Currently, municipalities lose an average of 39.3% of their supplied water, necessitating a 13% reduction in the next nine years.
Smart water metering (SWM) technology will incorporate robust water conservation and management practices into the water distribution network. It offers the following benefits: • helps utilities and consumers engage in two-way communication • provides frequent water consumption data to consumers, enhancing water conservation and management • (together with the roll-out of a proven management platform) reduces the risk of non-payment and overcomes the problems of inaccurate billing and loss of revenue • stops stolen water because there is live monitoring of tampering and bypassing of meters • can disconnect and reconnect water services remotely.
Maintenance
The meters need to be robust, and require little to no maintenance, because many of them will be placed in rural areas where there are scarce resources.
Analogue water meters, which constitute most meters used in South Africa, experience a degradation of accuracy over time. This is due to wear and tear of the moving parts, as well as water quality, abnormal water velocities, excessive Lina Lukusa, YWP member and throughput master’s student of volumes or flow information systems rates, suboptimal at the University of Cape Towninstallation, and poor meter handling.
Static meters are proving to be a more accurate and robust alternative. They measure the flow with ultrasonic technology and significantly reduce the payback time.
SWM has a short payback period of three to twelve months. There is a vital need for the South African water sector to ensure that its work force is equipped with the technical skills needed to implement SWM.
The WISA Gauteng Branch (WISA-GP) recently hosted a webinar – Building better water resilience through community engagement – addressing challenges, solutions and opportunities regarding community engagement in the sector.
Acommon theme that ran through all the presentations delivered during the webinar, as well as the round table discussion, was the weak levels of community engagement in South Africa.
The four panellists who spoke were: • Mariette Liefferink – CEO, Federation of
Sustainable Development • Romy Antrobus-Wuth – stewardship ecologist, Kruger to Canyons
Biosphere Region • Rivash Panday – sustainable water specialist, Sasol • Dennis Behrmann – specialist advisor:
Business Intelligence Projects for the
Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). Mariette Liefferink said that while community forums are put in place by the public sector, there is a lack of participation. She believes that poor attendance was due to these meetings taking place in centralised meeting locations that presented technical and financial restraints to the very communities that the forums were supposed to represent.
The lack of community participation has been noticed by government. Dennis Behrmann cited the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and DrinkingWater (GLAAS) reports that indicate low participation by service users. He added that people do not participate just because policies are in place. With the assistance of the Water Research Commission, the DWS is establishing new and broadening quantitative and qualitative measures to collect data on community participation indicators. Sasol, as the private sector representative at the webinar, indicated that community participation is a key part of their corporate water stewardship approach. The company has taken a ‘beyond-the-fence-line’ stance regarding water sustainability, as they believe that water savings for the catchment can be improved in a more meaningful way, by saving water beyond their factory fence line.
Romy Antrobus-Wuth highlighted various strategies and initiatives that the Kruger to Canyons NGO has implemented when engaging with stakeholders and communities. Some of these initiatives include the nomination of community ambassadors, WhatsApp groups dedicated to the monitoring of water resources and pollution, as well as relationship-building with traditional authorities.
If you wish to see the recorded version of the webinar, please contact Melissa Cousins: admin@wisa.org.za.
Journey to professional registration
Professionally registered professionals have onthe-job experience and a high level of competence. Registration also demonstrates a commitment to integrity, regard for public interest and responsibility for others. YWP recently held a webinar to inform young professionals about the registration process for engineering and natural sciences. By Tinashe Chipako
Tinashe Chipako is a YWP member and civil engineer at Zutari
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION WITH ECSA PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION WITH SACNASP
The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is recognised by the South African government as the premier regulatory body in the country for engineers. Through ECSA, the engineering profession is moderated to ensure that only competent and reliable individuals can practise as a professional engineer.
ECSA exists to ensure, through a process of quality assurance, that persons entering the profession are educated and trained accordingly to render a professional service for the benefit of the country.
But it is not only within the South African context, as ECSA registration is an internationally recognised certification under several international education and competency agreements, thereby providing its registrants international recognition as well.
Regarding the actual process of registration, in summary, ECSA registration and compliance can be broken down into three stages: • Stage 1: Graduating from tertiary education, as an engineer or technologist. • Stage 2: Training towards registration through experience on the job. • Stage 3: Putting all that you have learned along the way into practice, once you have obtained your hardearned registration. There are three level descriptors when it comes to those who can register with ECSA: engineer, engineering technologist and engineering technician.
Under each of these descriptors, it is important that an eligible candidate can solve engineering problems competently, manage engineering activities, act ethically and responsibly, and genuinely show an appreciation for engineering as a broad discipline. In order to work in South Africa as a scientist, you need to be registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).
A professional scientist must be competent in several fields, including, but not limited to: business management, presentation skills, ethical judgment and general learning.
Similar to ECSA registration, the three high-level steps towards gaining professional accreditation with SACNASP include student enrolment, postgraduation candidate enrolment, and final professional registration.
Students are highly encouraged to register for SACNASP in the final years of their studies, as this gives those interested access to a host of highly useful resources. Candidates can range from any relevant postgraduate individuals to PhD graduates.
SACNASP puts young professionals in touch with their peers and gives them chances to join training events and assists them in earning CPD points that are required for re-registration.
In conclusion, professional registration can be a daunting task for any budding young water professional. By joining professional development bodies such as WISA – and specifically the Young Water Professionals if you are under 35 years of age – you will further your career as a young professional in the water sector, as these bodies offer great networking opportunities with like-minded peers, as well numerous chances to further one’s understanding of the industry.
