Week 2 and 3 in Maputo

By Hidde Schijfsma and Jesse Salet

The more time we spend here in Maputo, the more we learn about this amazing city and the more we get used to the habits of the people over here.

Also our project proceeded a lot during the last weeks. We have finished the part of the report about the pumps and pressure lines. Besides an analysis of the problems of the pump, we also checked whether the new pumps are suited for the current situation. For example by checking if the pumps (also during rainfall) can deliver enough pressure to convey the wastewater to the highest point from where it can flow by gravity to pumping station number two and the WWTP. Our investigations shows that the pumps have enough capacity even during rainfall. In both criteria the pumps were designed well and no further technical problems are expected in the future. In our report we also make some recommendations to prevent the pumps from breaking down again. Besides a good maintenance plan, our most important recommendation is to install a UPS-system for uninterrupted power supply; that will filter out fluctuations in power supply, so that another electrical meltdown can be prevented.

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Jesse and Hidde at pumping station number two.

At the moment the focus of the project is more on the environmentally sustainable redesign of the sewerage system of UEM campus. We started with an analysis of the current situation so we have a clear overview of the flows within the campus. During our conversation with Mr. Roberto João, Mr. João explained us how the system was designed and it was a very helpful conversation. When we asked for the design drawings he even showed us a master plan with the current situation and how the campus would look like in the future (up to 15 years from now). The drawings of the sewerage system of this map were very useful for our project, but unfortunately not up to date and not completely the same as the reality. We needed to have more information to be sure about the exact situation so we made appointments with Mr. Otembe and with Mr. Congolo, both from UEM. Mr. Congolo is very knowledgeable about UEM’s sewerage system, and with the help of Noor translating our conversation, we had a long walk over the campus to find out how the system operates. People in Mozambique are really polite and willing to help you. But sometimes it is still hard to get the most detailed information needed for research.
During the last weeks there were some activities organized by the Dutch embassy. This is done to celebrate the 40 years of diplomatic relations between Mozambique and the Netherlands. There were some interesting presentations about the flood defense systems in Beira, the second biggest city in Mozambique. The main theme of the events was water, so that was really interesting for us. Before the first event we did not know that the presentations were not in English so we improved our Portuguese really well that afternoon. During the second meeting there was also an info market with interesting companies within the water sector, local and international. We talked to lots of people and made some helpful contacts also for our project.

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Event to celebrate the 40 years of cooperation between Mozambique and the Netherlands.

Whenever we have some spare time left in our busy schedule we try to see as much as possible around here. Last weekend we went to Krüger Park in South Africa and almost saw the ”big five”, only the leopard was a little bit shy that weekend. It was a nice experience to see all those wild animals and even the ones which were not part of the big five were an amazing sight. It was also very interesting to hear people speak Afrikaans over there: the language is closely related to the Dutch language and because of that we could pretty much understand it.

This weekend we met some friends of which one guy even had studied in Delft as well (it is a small world) and together we explored the nightlife of Maputo. It is always good to have some company who knows the city well and shows you around.
We hope that everybody enjoyed our blog and we will keep you updated during the rest of our time in Maputo.

Obrigado,
Jesse and Hidde

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