Team Anaerobic Maputo

by Jelle and Stijn

In the spring of 2017 we, Jelle Epema and Stijn Dijsselbloem students from the TU Delft, went to Mozambique to work on our BSc thesis on wastewater treatment. We stayed for a period of two months, from the beginning of April to the start of June. Continue reading

My thoughts on the first National Conference on Desalination

by André

Last week (25/04/2017) the Belgium Technical Cooperation and the National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DNAAS) organized the first national conference on desalination in Mozambique. The high-profile event took place at DNAAS, in Maputo, and was led by the National Director, Mr. Nilton Trindade. The morning was devoted to offer a general view of the situation regarding water resources in Mozambique, with desalination being presented as a potential solution; whereas in the afternoon four different companies pitched their technological offers for desalination and gave examples of previous projects throughout the world. I am now taking this opportunity to share some thoughts about the conference in general and about desalination in particular. Continue reading

Witnessing the politics of integrated urban resilience agenda in Mozambique

by Adriano

In the past 20th April I had the opportunity to witness some of the efforts to integrate the theme of urban resilience into the planning cycle in Mozambique. I participated in an event named “The Dialogue on Urban Resilience in Mozambique”. This event aimed to stimulate new ideas and solutions to incorporate disaster resilience into the country’s development strategies, plans and programs. More information can be found on UN Habitat’s Facebook page. Continue reading

Participation at World Water Day 2017 in Maputo

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. Continue reading

Cholera outbreak in Maputo: the impact of insufficient sanitation services and limited access to drinking water

by André

By now you might have read that there’s an ongoing cholera outbreak in Maputo and in a couple other cities and regions in Mozambique – four in total. Continue reading

Technology for life: PhD honoris causa for Manuel Alvarinho

by André

We often hear that researchers are detached from reality and trapped in ivory towers. Well, to prove all this wrong, this year to celebrate its 175th anniversary, during the Dies Natalis, TU Delft granted a PhD honoris causa to Manuel Alvarinho of CRA for his groundbreaking work in the water and sanitation sector in Mozambique and we could not be happier. Continue reading

Mid-term review

by André

On the last week of November we met in Den Haag with NWO for the mid-term review and we have to say that the reviewers were quite positive. Continue reading

Results of the household survey – a comic strip

by Lena

In the past few months we were quite busy finalizing the technical report discussing the household survey that we did together with WSP at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015. I wrote about it here and here and you can now grab a copy of the final report here. By the way, this work was the basis our WEDC paper and for my MSc thesis – very productive! Continue reading

My third (and last) post

by Nessia

1. Looking Back
The time passed so quickly until I realized that six months had passed since I flew back to Delft. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in Maputo who had been with me from March until May but it was even harder noticing that some goodbyes were left unspoken since I could not say it directly for a last time. However, the next phase of my thesis project was waiting for me: the design of the wastewater treatment plant. Continue reading

Defenses

by André

In the last few months we had three MSc defenses: Iana went first, the 19th of September, followed by Jay-el on the 23rd. More recently (30th of November) was the time for Nessia‘s MSc defense. They all did really well and you can grab a copy of the theses here.

Then, on the 24th of November both Celma and Noor defended their research proposals, with Adriano doing the same on the 29th. The three of them got a GO.

Congratulations everybody!