RESEARCH
The Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Energy and Water Sector
Education Training Authority (EWSETA) recently signed a collaboration agreement
to drive a coherent water skills ecosystem and pipeline in South Africa.
Highly water secure countries share three common features: they
have high investments in knowledge solutions; they have well-maintained
infrastructure; and they focus on nurturing talent and skills. This reality makes
the WRC and EWSETA well-matched partners. With its long-term investments in
research, development, and innovation, and annually supporting an average of
400 students, the WRC is one of the key players supporting the development of
new knowledge and solutions, as well as supporting an advanced skills pipeline
to develop these solutions. The EWSETA has a pivotal role to play in orientating
its 353 water sector levy payers towards emerging water solutions and
innovations, along with driving investments in skills and training for the water
sector, which gears new entrants towards greater workplace preparedness
and supports existing employees.
Addressing the skills gap in the water sector requires three key
interventions. First, we need the many existing water skills interventions in
South Africa to be better coordinated and connected along the skills pipeline.
Second, there is a need to link new workplace entrants with opportunities in the
water ecosystem for on-site learning and practical experience, which is crucial
to developing professionals. Third, the content of water sector training needs
to equip employees with the ability to be resilient, flexible, and prepared for the
emerging challenges and solutions of the future.
To streamline the water sector skills pipeline and prepare water sector
employees for the water jobs and opportunities of the future, the WRC
and EWSETA signed a collaborative agreement on 15 March 2017. This
collaboration focuses on exploring how to unlock opportunities for exposure to
emerging water solutions and innovations using existing bursary, learnership,
and internship processes. Also, using mechanisms such as the Water
Technologies Demonstration Programme, it hopes to unlock opportunities
to expose new water sector entrants to technology demonstrations and
management processes. This partnership also allows for the co-creation of
new and more relevant mechanisms that will accelerate and streamline the
water skills pipeline.
In the signing ceremony, Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO of the WRC, emphasised
that “South Africa’s route to higher water security lies firmly in the arena of
human capital development. The lack of sufficient pools of skill and talent
remains the number one constraint. This partnership between the WRC and
the EWSETA seeks to catalyse our human resource development initiatives.
The WRC and the EWSETA will bridge the traditional ‘ivory towers of academia’
and the real world of work to not only develop large new cohorts of water
professionals, but a cadre equipped with advanced knowledge as well as the
mechanics of the workplace. This will be a vital pillar in ensuring the future
water security of the country and its ability to get to the target of universal
access to clean water and safe sanitation.”
Errol Gradwell, CEO of EWSETA, supported this statement emphasising that
he “welcomes this partnership with the WRC, as it presents the opportunity
to synergise activities, address research gaps and questions, focus on
career guidance and specialised skills, and catalyse new platforms for skills
cooperation.” u
From left: Dhesigen
Naidoo (CEO of
the WRC) and
Errol Gradwell
(CEO of EWSETA)
during the signing
of a collaboration
agreement to drive
a coherent water
skills ecosystem
and pipeline in
South Africa.
Membranes to
remove viruses
from drinking water
developed
Ultrafiltration membranes, which significantly
improve the virus-removal process from treated
municipal wastewater used for drinking in
water-scarce cities, have been developed by
researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev (BGU) and the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Current membrane filtration methods
need intensive energy to remove pathogenic
viruses effectively without relying on
chemicals like chlorine, which can
contaminate the water with disinfection
by-products. The new approach for virus
pathogen removal was published in the
current issue of Water Research.
“This is an urgent matter of public
safety,” the researchers say. “Insufficient
removal of human adenovirus in municipal
wastewater, for example, has been detected
as a contaminant in US drinking water
sources, including the Great Lakes and
worldwide.”
The norovirus, which can cause
nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, is the most
common cause of viral gastroenteritis in
humans, and is assessed to be the second-
leading cause of gastroenteritis-associated
mortality. Human adenoviruses can cause
a wide range of illnesses that include the
common cold, sore throat (pharyngitis),
bronchitis, pneumonia, diarrhoea, pink eye
(conjunctivitis), fever, bladder inflammation
or infection (cystitis), inflammation of the
stomach and intestines (gastroenteritis), and
neurological disease.
In the study, Professor Moshe Herzberg
of the Department of Desalination and
Water Treatment in the Zuckerberg Institute
for Water Research at BGU and his group
grafted a special hydrogel coating onto a
commercial ultrafiltration membrane. The
‘zwitterionic polymer hydrogel’ prevents
the viruses from approaching and passing
through the membrane. It contains both
positive and negative charges and improves
efficacy by weakening virus accumulation
on the modified filter surface, resulti