by Adriano, Celma and Noor
This year’s World Water Day theme was “Wastewater: Promoting its Reuse, for Sustainable Development”. In Mozambique the day was celebrated with several activities organized by the National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DNAAS, in Portuguese). Among them, it involved speech at educational institutions such as schools and Universities and at the main ceremony day on 22 March 2017.
The banner and theme for this year’s World Water Day.
Presentations in schools (13-17 March)
From the project Celma and Noor were invited to give several presentations. Celma made a presentation at the Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculty of Civil Engineering on “Wastewater treatment”, as a member of JOPA (Jovens Profissionais de Água, in Portuguese; Aquashare’s young water professionals) that had around 40 participants, interested to know what are the main difficulties to treat wastewater. The main points of her presentation were:
- Reasoning and benefits for water reclamation
- Treatment steps involved and different uses
- Water treatment in Maputo, and
- Focus of our work
Celma giving her presentation at UEM.
The week after Noor gave a presentation at a secondary school, Instituto Nilia, to 8th grade students (85 participants) with the topic “What we should know about water?”. Noor’s presentation covered the following topics:
- The urban water cycle
- Importance of water
- How to care about water
- Water distribution in the world
- Water conservation
- Water pollution
- Wastewater, and
- Benefits of wastewater reuse
The students found very interesting to learn that they can contribute on being water wise and about how they can care for water.
World water day (22nd March)
On the 22nd of March the celebrations brought together 100 participants and were held at DNAAS. The agenda for the celebrations was divided as follows: (i) initial statements by the representative of water sector partners and Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, (ii) delivery of journalistic awards (newspapers, radio and television) on water, hygiene and sanitation issues, (iii) presentation of the DNAAS’ vision on wastewater and reuse in the context of water supply and presentation of the DNGRH vision on wastewater in the context of water resources management, (iv) sharing and discussion of international experiences in wastewater management, (v) innovations in the re-use of wastewater by the private sector, and (vi) visit to the exhibition.
World Water Day celebrations at DNAAS.
Nelson Matsinhe and Celma were invited by PLAMA to give presentations. Both presentations focused on bringing experiences from other countries regarding (non-)potable wastewater reclamation and reclamation for industries and irrigation, focusing on the types of water reclamation, purpose, potential in terms of water volume, wastewater treatment technologies and some challenges and perspectives on opportunities when applied to Mozambique. In addition to her personal experiences, Celma’s presentation referred to the objectives and purpose of the ‘Sustainable freshwater supply for urbanization Maputo, Mozambique’ project. The debate focused on the next steps to integrate water reclamation into the Mozambican reality and into the water supply management system. The debate emphasized that information and awareness of the idea of water reclamation, existence of wastewater collection and treatment infrastructures and the existence of regulatory framework and norms are the first steps that should be taken. At the end of the presentation, Celma was awarded a certificate of her participation in presentation of water day.
