Theme: The Graduation Process Online Education

Theme: The Graduation Process

Online Education

MDE Mind SpinselsFrits Dankers

Anke Grefte

Volume 23 | September 2013

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Druppel - Volume 23 - September 2013

Volume 23, Number 3, September 2013

The ‘Druppel’ is a magazine of the student society of watermanagement of the TU Delft. The magazine is published four times a year.

EditorsFrans Willem Hamer

Remko NijzinkDavid GintingLuis S. Ruiz

Pradeep Rathore

DesignRemko Nijzink

Frans Willem Hamer

The ‘Druppel’ is distributed to all members and relations of the

‘Dispuut Watermanagement’Faculty of Civil Engineering

and Geosciences

ContactDispuut Watermanagement

Room 4.74Stevinweg 1

2628 CN Delft015-2784284

[email protected]

www.facebook.com/Druppelmagazine

CoverMaikel Votel

-Picture of the artificial Lake Piva in Montenegro together with a previous edition of the Druppel.

ColofonDear Druppel readers,

The end of summer, the start of a new academic year. A lot of students are graduating and will leave the university with a lot of knowledge. For the students who are still at the department or will start graduating this year, this issue is one to cherish, as the graduating students were so kind to share some key knowledge about their graduation with you! Luckily, studying water management is also a lot of fun! Especially during the activities organised by the Dispuut. In this issue you can read about all the activities of the 4th quarter and the study trip to the Balkan. These activities can only take place with the help of the active members and participants. This is also true for the Druppel. David, Remko and Luis are leaving the committee after years of commitment, devotion and dedication. Therefore, we need three new committe members to continue the fun we had last year. If you are interested: don’t hesitate, and contact us!

On behalf of the Druppel Committee,Frans Willem Hamer

Col

ofon

September 2013

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From the board

Cover contest & Graduates

International water news

The Graduation Process

Graduates Overview

Symposium

Online Education

Digging into stuff

The Kosi River Floods

Curriculum Changes

Jules van Lier

International Student

Dispuut Activities

MDE Mind Spinsels

Historical Water Figure

Dispuut Puzzles

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Table of contentsJoris de Vos

Remko Nijzink

Remko Nijzink about the steps in the

Summarizing some work in the

Onno Ebbens about

Anke Grefte telling about

Tanja Euser is

Prof. Wiggers about his expercience during

Mark de Weerd looking forward to

Druppel is getting to know

Struan Robertson about being an

Summarizing some of the

Frits Dankers writing some

Frans Willem Hamer about another

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From the boardThere is a probability that you get this magazine

in your hands for the first time. Not so strange, since most of the new students arrive around the time of circulation of this magazine. Welcome to the Dispuut Watermanagement!

When I’m writing this article, I realize that the fourth quarter of the academic year was quite a busy one for the Dispuut. For me personally, there could not have been a better timing for summer holidays. A negative point about the summer holidays however is that everything seems so long ago if you are in the end of it. Fortunately the new academic year is coming with new activities and events.

The annual symposium that took place in May was a great success. The key-note speaker of that evening: Prof. Damir Brdjanovic gave his view on paradigm changes in the urban water cycle and two other speakers: Rutger de Graaf and Jasper van Kempen got the room quietly with their speeches. After this, strong opinions were not kept quiet in the panel discussion guided by Thom Bogaard.

Barely two weeks later, the board change took place after a hectic week of fieldwork in Luxembourg.

Please let me introduce you my new fellow board members: Mark, Pradeep, Marlies, Frans Willem and Damien. Last three are new in the board and they take over the places of Tom, Lobke and Anthonie who I really want to thank for their efforts in the 52nd board.

On the 5th of June, all eyes in and around the faculty were fixed on us when the second edition of the Fitterij competition was organized in front of the CiTG building. Don’t ask me how it could happen, but water management students are not the best in pipe fitting, since this is already the second time that a couple of non-water management students won the competition. Naturally I hope that a next event will prove that water management students are born pipe fitters!

Another happening was the sailing weekend, which was a bit alternative this year because of the strong wind on the Kagerplassen. The end of the academic year was celebrated with a BBQ for all the members and staff members of water management. Bas des Tombe was awarded with the Cees Boeter Prijs for his BSc thesis on salinization problems of extraction wells for irrigation.

After the exams, a group of 25 students and staff members went to the Balkans to visit interesting projects and places in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia. You’ll definitely find an article about this interesting study tour elsewhere in this edition of the Druppel.

We hope to see you at one of the activities or at our weekly cookie breaks on Wednesday at 10:30!

On behalf of the 53rd board,Joris de VosPresident

From

the

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Inco

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Incoming mailDo you have comments on the articles? You don’t

agree with the contest winner? Or do you just want to share your water story with us? Send in your mail and we place it in the next Druppel!

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Gra

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Cover contest

Graduates May - August 2013

Sanitary Engineering

Anthonie Hogendoorn Enhanced digestion and alginate-like-exopolysaccharides extraction from Nereda sludge

Joeri Legierse Development of an innovative wastewater reuse plant for the RINEW project

Udo Ouwerkerk Investigation of the regeneration process of the softners at BWP-Botlek

Marleen Heidekamp Mild Desalination of Cooling Tower Blow Down with Electrodialysis and Membrane Capacitive

Andreas Moerman Drinking water temperature modeling in domestic systems

Wu Kai Measurement of organic halogen in boiler feedwater of power plant

Hydrology

Koen Wenker The influence of fissures on landslide hydrology

Water Resources Management

Bart Dekens Gradient-based hybrid Model Predictive Control using Time Instant Optimization for Dutch regional water

Anthony Meyer Zu Schlochtern Creative Policy Generation in IWRM: A Case Study in the Upper Citarum Basin

Bouke Kooreman Measuring weight fluctuations in trees based on natural frequency

Paul Rutten The Urban Water Balance: a case study of the Prinseneiland, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

This Druppel cover contest was about the two things everyone can’t wait for throughout the year: Druppel and holidays. The task was to take a picture of the Druppel at your holiday destination. Somehow, all entries came from the Balkans.

Apparently, many people have been to the same place: the winning picture was taken at the same spot as the picture that came 3rd. The Druppel

Committee suspects that the two persons must have been traveling together. Luckily, the best picture was taken from a better angle and the Druppel was displayed more prominently. That made it an easy decision. The winner will get the Lonely Planet of his own choice together with a copy of his beautiful picture.

1

2 3

Je hebt recent een opleiding op het gebied van procestechnologie, chemische technologie of AOT afgerond.

Je bent op zoek naar een uitdagende baan. Bij een vooruitstrevende, eigenwijze werkgever.

Waar je veel kunt leren en snel verantwoordelijkheden krijgt.

Iets voor jou?

Oasen maakt drinkwater voor 750.000 mensen en 7.200 bedrijven in het oosten van Zuid-Holland.

Oasen N.V. | Nieuwe Gouwe O.Z. 3 | Postbus 122 | 2800 AC Gouda | T 0182 59 34 15 | www.oasen.nl

Werken met drinkwater...

adv_OASEN-01.indd 1 31-01-12 13:20

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Final Challenge was held in buzzing iHub. Twelve selected participants from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Spain worked together with water management professor Nick van de Giesen and MacGyver scientist Rolf Hut from Delft University of Technology, and Adam Gleave from the Raspberry Pi Foundation to create a “for Africa, from Africa” weather station.

During the five day workshop, the 21 sensors brought by the participants, measuring variables such as rainfall, temperature, humidity and wind were integrated into an experimental weather station. All sensor were connected to one Raspberry Pi, a low-cost microcomputer, that functioned as the heart of the integrated weather station. The Raspberry Pi sent all data obtained by the sensors to the internet through MQTT, a messaging transport that is ideal for connecting small devices connected on networks with minimal bandwidth. IBM’s system Intelligent Operations for Water (IOW) stored the data from the 21 sensors in the cloud and nicely visualised measurement values on a map.(TAHMO)

EU BATHING WATER CONTINUES TO IMPROVEMay 21, 2013

The latest data on EU bathing water quality hasbeen released, showing 93% of sites meet the minimum standards.

However, the authors said storm-water run-off was still causing pollution problems in some areas.

Compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the report lists data from more than 22,000 sites within the EU, Croatia and Switzerland.

An interactive website allows people to check the water quality of prospective holiday destinations.

The data, which refers to the 2012 bathing season, shows that 20,621 out of 22,184 (92.9%) bathing sites achieved at least the minimum water quality standard.

These figures show a slight improvement from 2011, when 20,499 sites out of 22,374 (91.6%) at least met the minimum standard.

The EEA report said that although the overall data matched the longer term trend of improving water quality, about 2% of the sites sampled did not meet the minimum criteria.

It added that the nations with the highest proportion of non-compliant locations were Belgium (12%), the Netherlands (7%) and the UK (6%).(BBC)

HEAVY RAIN BRINGS FLOODS TO PHILIPPINES August 19, 2013

Heavy rain in the Philippine capital forced the closure of government offices, schools, banks and most private companies, and residents in parts of the city and nearby provinces had to flee from their homes because of floods.

The monsoon rain, intensified by tropical storm Trami, also led to the closure of the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippine Dealing System foreign exchange platform and the secondary debt market via the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp after government offices suspended their work.

At least three people were killed and two were missing in accidents caused by the rain and flooding, disaster and government officials said.

The flooding was the worst this rainy season in the Philippines, which is regularly battered by heavy weather including at least 20 typhoons a year.

The governor of Cavite province, southwest of Manila, declared a state of calamity after 395 mm of rain fell on parts of the province in a day, equivalent to 86 percent of a month’s average rainfall. That and a high tide caused flooding in many parts of the province.

Santa Rosa town in Laguna province also declared a state of calamity, with most of its neighborhoods flooded, said its mayor, Arlene Arcillas.

Weather forecasters said more rain was expected in coming days as tropical storm Trami moved north towards Taiwan.(Reuters)

TAHMO FINAL CHALLENGE NAIROBI 2013August 2, 2013

After a week of soldering, programming and teamwork, a cheer went up when 21 sensors, brought in from all corners of Africa, came online and started submitting their measurements to the internet. The sensors were designed by the winners of the TAHMO Sensor Design Competition. Their prize: to join researchers from Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) for a week in Nairobi, Kenya and work together on integrating all winning sensors into one big weather station. From Monday 29 July to Friday 2 August 2013 this

International water newsRemko Nijzink

Inte

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The TAHMO participants

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The graduation process:A spaghetti mess...?

In advance:Step 1 Have at least 60 ects, 70 ects is recommended by the Department

Step 2 Find a topic: you can go to the professors and companies, but don’t be fooled: Other lecturers and PhD students also have interesting topics available!

Step 3 See your graduation coordinator (also known as Wim Luxemburg)

Step 4 Fill in the form “Application start MSc-thesis (this can be found on the TU Delft website) and hand it in at the Servicedesk Citg

Step 5 Arrange your committee. The minimum is three academic members of staff from Delft University from at least two different sections. The charmain of the committee must be a professor from CEG. External committee members can be added. Inform the coordinator about the composition of your committee.

Step 6 Read the “Graduation Guide” (http://www.citg.tudelft.nl/en/about-faculty/departments/watermanagement/education/master/msc-thesis/ )

Step 7 Prepare a document for the website of Watermanagement and send it to Koen Hilgersom (water resources) or Wim Luxemburg (hydrology))

Step 8Add your name to the colloquium list (Saket Pande or R. Shange)

Step 9 Arrange a working place, you can go to Ronald van Nooyen (Hydrology and Water resources) or the Sanitary secretariat

Druppel magazine received some indications from students that starting the graduation process can be a bit confusing. What must be arranged, which forms should be filled in? A stepwise approach is presented here to create some order in the “spaghetti of the graduation process”.

During the MSc-thesis:Step 10Have regular meetings

Step 11Attend colloquia (at least 8) and give one presentation for a colloquium

Step 12Make an appointment with the coordinator at least three months before your graduation to prepare your “Graduation Chart” (list with courses).

Step 13For fieldwork equipment: contact Wim Luxemburg or Thom Bogaard

Step 14Set the date of your defense: arrange lecture room and announcements. For Sanitary, go to the secretariat for reproduction of your MSc-thesis.

Step 15Inform the Dispuut about the date of your graduation. They will mention in on their website.

When graduated:Step 15Become an old member of the Dispuut, so you keep receiving the Druppel!

This stepwise approach is based on the graduation checklist that can be found on the water management website:

http://www.citg.tudelft .nl/en/about-faculty/departments/watermanagement/education/master/msc-thesis/

Step

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Title: The influence of fissures on landslide hydrology

To characterize the hydrological behaviour of a landslide and especially of the fissures and matrix, fieldwork was conducted on the Super-Sauze landslide in the French Alps. A rainfall simulator has been used to sprinkle 35 mm h-1 of artificial rain on the landslide. In total 8 plots have been tested where water levels, electrical conductivity and moisture contents have been measured during and after the experiment. Also the fissure distribution at the Super-Sauze landslide has been mapped. This fissure map is compared to earlier surveys and is furthermore used for modelling purposes.

STARWARS is used to model the behaviour of the Super-Sauze landslide. This is a spatially-distributed finite element model for landslide hydrology taking into account both saturated and unsaturated zones, but also explicitly defines matrix and fissure fractions

and their interactions. Moreover, a hydrological feedback mechanism is used to determine the connectivity of fissures between adjacent cells, depending on the moisture content

of the unsaturated zone in the matrix. A mechanical feedback mechanism is used to change the total amount of fissures in a cell, which is dependent on the factor of safety of the specific cell. The factor of safety is the ratio between the driving forces and stabilizing forces. It is conceptualized that if the factor of safety is larger than 1, the slope is stable, and if the factor of safety becomes less than 1, it starts to move. A low factor of safety assumes a large amount of movement and a large factor of safety assumes limited or no movement. In this concept, when the factor of safety is low, the fissure fraction is high and when the factor of safety is high, the fissure fraction is low. However, conceptually this feedback mechanism is disputable, because fissures occur due to movement and not due to (in)stability of a cell as calculated from a balance of forces. That is why in this thesis another approach is proposed and evaluated using the calculated velocity of the cell and adjacent cells within a landslide.

A model has been written for testing this velocity-based approach. Two fictive slopes have been tested (a straight and a concave slope). The fissure fraction is now dependent on the difference between the upslope and downslope velocity. A dynamic effect appears for the amount of fissures per cell and across a landslide (a large amount of fissures is moving up and down, same for a low amount of fissures). This approach seems promising for modelling the amount and influence of fissures on landslide hydrology.

Koen Wenker

Title: Monitoring the surface and groundwater bodies of Northern-Iraq from space

Within some years making a sound hydrologic model will be as simple as following: You start up a supercomputer, select the region of interest, download and analyze some satellite data and run the model. Impossible? I agree, but I still like the idea and it is where I`m partly working on.

My main goal is to monitor the surface water and groundwater bodies of Northern Iraq using

the GRACE satellite mission. In the past measuring groundwater by satellite was almost impossible because it was not possible to ‘see’ it. But that`s exactly what GRACE doesn`t. Instead of radiation it measures the gravity of the surface, which can be translated to groundwater levels. But unfortunately this method causes a very coarse resolution (100-200 km). Therefore I try to combine data from different satellites to come up with a water balance and a hydrologic model of the area.

And sadly, or luckily, I need some ground data… Which is the best reason to go to North Iraq. I hope that I’ll go there the next months, but I am not sure yet. Further some advice: Try to get a place at the department to work on your thesis. You will work faster and get some understanding when you`re bored.

Gert Mulder

Graduates Overview

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Title: Mild Desalination of Cooling Tower BlowDown Water with Electrodialysis and Membrane Capacitive Deionization: A Comparative Study

The world is facing a water shortage and besides water reuse in the urban water cycle, efficient water management in the industry is becoming more of interest. Dow Chemical Company in Terneuzen wants to reduce its water consumption and is therefore exploring the option of mild desalination of cooling tower blow down. Aim is to desalinate this concentrated and salty (3.6mS/cm) water stream down to a conductivity of 1.0mS/cm.

For my master thesis I investigated the desalination of cooling tower blow down water with two electrochemical technologies. Electrodialysis

and membrane capacitive deionization are both desalination technologies which separate dissolved ions from water based on an electrical potential difference. I have carried out different experiments in the lab to investigate the operational parameters of both systems. Main goal of the thesis was to compare the technologies for the treatment of cooling tower blow down water, based on energy consumption, ion removal and current efficiencies.

Main outcome was that electrodialysis has a lower energy demand compared to membrane capacitive deionization. Longer term effects such as membrane fouling and scaling need to be investigated in further (pilot) tests.

Working on two electrochemical technologies, a new field for me, was quite challenging. Besides the new material I had to get acquainted with, I also participated in the project team working on this topic. The meetings and discussions of this project team created an experience for me from which I learned a lot.

Marleen Heidekamp

Graduates Overview

Title: One Size Does Not Fit All Right behind the exquisite Soekarno Hatta

International Airport, you will find rural communities that are oblivious to the basic (according to the ‘normal’ standards) sanitation needs. They have mobile phones, Yes; They own motorcycles, Yes; They own televisions, Yes (even I don’t have a TV in Delft); but the majority of them do not own a toilet at home. For them the best place to do number ones and number twos is... out in the open.

“There’s no need. What for? You have rice fields and streams”, is the common answer you will get

when asked whether they would like to have toilets installed in the area.

For my thesis project I came up with a non-conventional design that mimics the current habits of the locals. In addition, the temporal nature of the design allows the users to have a trial period, whereby a favorable (or unfavorable) attitude will be formed towards the design. Those who feel that it fits their criteria could decide to continue adopting the toilet.

Just think of it this way, could you remember the last time you had to purchase a mobile phone (because your old one was stolen, fell into the canal or got smashed onto the asphalt for whatever reason)? I am sure that you would have scrolled through pages and pages of online reviews, asked around, and tried out different phones to finally choose one that is suitable for you (and well within your price range). Sometimes all it takes is a trip to the store and the chance to get the full hands-on experience with the mobile phone you want to help you come to your decision.

Be it a mobile phone or a toilet, people ought to have the opportunity try before choosing to invest their money for it right?

Ravina Binol

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Title: Enhanced digestion and alginate-like-exopolysaccharides extraction from Nereda sludge

The last seven months I spend most of my time on laboratory work. The project I did was initiated by RoyalHaskoningDHV. The last decennium they have developed the Nereda technology together with TUDelft. The special characteristic is that it enables growing bacteria in granules rather than flocs, which saves a lot of costs in the wastewater

treatment. However, not much was known about the treatment of this sludge. I investigated several technologies for digestibility enhancement and the interaction with alginate-l ike-exopolysaccharides extraction from Nereda sludge.

Doing your graduation project at a company has

several pro’s and con’s compared to the university. Finances are more important in business life, limiting the possibilities for the experiments/equipment you want to use. You have to mediate between your prof and the company, as the focus of the university is more fundamental, whereas most companies are more practice oriented. On the other hand I had to drive in very nice lease cars for collecting the sludge (a. o. Alfa Romeo Giulietta). Because you will meet a lot of people, a company also enables you to enlarge your network with a lot of professionals, both clients, engineers and professors.

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Anthonie Hogendoorn

Title: Measurement of organic halogen in boiler feedwater of power plants

In natural surface water and water treatment plant effluent, there exist some organic halogen compounds from industry and pesticides. Most of the organic halogens will degrade in the boilers and release halide ions when the power plants generate steam from feedwater. The ions could lower pH in the boiler and cause stress corrosion cracking of the boiler, which could increase safety risks and decrease the life-time of boilers and tubes.

Unlike halide ions in the cool water, organic halogen compounds can’t be removed by ion exchange. So it’s necessary to measure the thread compounds correctly. Existing measurements including Adsorbable Organic Halogens and Gas Chromatography are not convenient, accurate or reproducible enough, meaning that a new method should be developed. In this research the option of destroying the organic compounds to release the halide anions and measure them with ion chromatography was studied. So it’s important to find the best way to destroy the organic compounds and release the halides anions.

Six organic halogen model compounds were tested, including both aliphatic and aromatic compounds. Organic fluorine, chlorine and bromine are all included. Two main methods were studied: UV/vacuum UV (VUV) photolysis or photocatalysis and wet chemical oxidation with K

2S

2O

8. Three

kinds of lamps were applied: VUV, low-pressure (LP) lamp and medium pressure (MP) lamp. H

2O

2 and TiO

2 were used as a catalyst. The experiments were executed with both single compounds and mixed compounds. The whole research includes: studying different UV lamps and oxidants on the target compounds and find the optimal combinations, trying different dosings of K

2S

2O

8 and find the difference, testing

halide release of target compounds in power plant conditions.

The results show that the organic fluorine is the hardest to degrade while organic bromine is the easiest. Aromatic compounds are easier to degrade than aliphatic compounds. This happens not only in AOP process, but also in power plant conditions. The recovery of bromide and chloride in most methods could reach 95%, while aliphatic fluorine can only reach at most 70%.

It can be concluded that MP/H2O

2 is the

most effective method in the study for the threat compounds since it requires less time and less energy consumption, but wet chemical oxidation also has the advantage of simple equipment and universality. The method with the slowest degradation is UV/ TiO

2

Wu Kai

Imagine the result

Waterveiligheid, wateroverlast, watertekort, water -

kwaliteit en vaarwater. Stuk voor stuk belangrijke onder-

werpen die mee bepalen hoe we wonen en werken in ons

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Water in de stad tot de stormvloed kering in New Orleans.

Met veel plezier en vol energie pakken we die watertaken aan.

We maken graag het verschil. Als water ook jouw drijfveer is,

neem dan contact op met René Teiken, recruiter divisie Water

tel. 06-5073 6710. Kijk voor mogelijkheden voor (afstudeer-)

stages of vacatures op onze website:

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ARCADIS heeft haar kennis op het gebied van water gebun-

deld. De divisie Water adviseert en begeleidt opdrachtgevers

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Gericht op het resultaat. Dát drijft ARCADIS.

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zaken. Resultaatgericht: iedereen

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Als medewerker van ARCADIS

verlaat je gebaande paden. Je bent

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Water drijft ARCADISWat drijft jou?

13


Sym

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um

“Water the elixir of life” was the topic of the water management symposium held in May 2013 at Unesco-IHE. The fact that water is essential in the existence of life on earth is known to many people. But what people do all over the earth to cope with water related problems is for many still unknown. This symposium was there to show how people in different parts of the world creatively handle a variety of water problems.

After a strikingly professional introduction by Kenny Wang, the key-note speaker of the evening got our attention. Prof. Dr. Ir. Damir Brdjanovic (professor in sanitary engineering at UNESCO-IHE) gave his view on paradigm changes in the urban water cycle. Instead of using drinking water for all processes requiring water within our houses, we should shift to a more diverse supply. Seawater can be used for toilet flushing; used water is suited for agricultural/industrial purposes. Using seawater for toilet flushing enables us to build compacter wastewater treatment plants and a more easily recovery of phosphorus. Prof. Brdjanovic elucidated his view with the example of Hong-Kong; where a system, in which seawater is used to flush the toilets, is operational since the 70’s. He even collected evidence of this himself by tasting the water from the toilet cistern (stortbak in Dutch). He closed his talk by saying the inspiring words: ‘In an era of rapid urbanization it is required to think beyond the known boundaries!’

The subsequent talk given by Dr. Ir. Rutger de Graaf was a very nice addition to the key-note speaker. In an enthusiastic and dynamic way, Rutger presented the sea as a major solution for urban growth in delta areas. Oceans are not only useful for living, also agriculture and aquaculture can take place. With the floating delta center in Rotterdam

as a first start; the vision of Deltasync started to become a reality.

The third lecture, given by Dr. Ir. Jasper van Kempen (Rijkswaterstaat), was about river basin management. Although problems with the beamer provided us with incredible color changing effects, Jasper van Kempen still managed to share his view on the European Water Framework Directive. Starting from a conflict on water quality between Belgium and the Netherlands, he revealed the missing aspects within the European laws.

After the break, Thom Bogaard (TU Delft) guided the panel discussion with three professionals of different backgrounds. Lambèr Paping had a unique way of participating in a discussion. Besides a few extraordinary one-liners such as: “The stone-age did not end because of a lack of stones” and “f#ck the system” he also got the message across that students should be well aware of serious obstacles in realizing their dreams. Cees van de Guchte (Deltares) stressed the need for knowledge development for the long term future. As more research is currently paid by companies, the long-term focus is partly lost. Dick van Ginhoven underlined the importance of students educated in engineering/water management. The need for analytical employees will rise significantly; we as students should be well aware of our capacities in this respect. The closing words of the panel discussion were from prof. Damir Brdjanovic, asking the student to think of the way in which we want to realize our dreams: entrepreneurial, in an engineering company or in the fundamental research?

The symposium was closed by Tom de Boer, chairman of the dispuut. All speakers and panel members were thanked for their participation. During the finalizing drinks we enjoyed drinks and snacks, while elaborating further on the topics discussed, even the speakers stayed until the bar closed at 11pm. This symposium was again an event underlining the importance of our daily practices and future career!

Symposium: ‘Water, the elixir of life’Onno Ebbens

“The stone-age did not end because of a lack of stones”

Join the Facebook Group:

And like the Page:

I

Dispuut Watermanagement is on Facebook now, stay up-to-date about events and activities!

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Online educationWatermanagement Anke Grefte

to expand his/her knowledge in the disciplines that are offered. Registration is possible for the complete online MSc programme or for one or more Master courses. This creates the possibility to acquire an MSc within a series of subsequent years.

How does an online MSc look? The first year of the MSc track Water

management consists of courses. Most of these courses will be offered online. All lectures will be recorded by collegerama and exercises can be done from home via the internet. This will all be facilitated through Blackboard. Special attention from the lecturer or professor will be given to the online-student by e-mail and skype.

Only for laboratory work and the examination the students have to come to the campus. This moment at the campus is important for students to meet professors and fellow students as well as for arranging a thesis subject for the second year of the MSc. The second year consists of project and thesis work, which cannot be done online, but, as is already the case, can be done at any location, suitable for performing MSc thesis work.

What will change?We expect that the student population at

our MSc track will change in coming years. We expect more life-long learners, who are students with working experiences, bringing added value to the (virtual) class room. In addition, worldwide, students now have the opportunity to follow our water management courses and in the meantime they can give feedback regarding the situation in other parts of the world. The discussion board will be used more often to connect with the online students and to learn from their knowledge and opinion.

To be more of service for the online students, the didactics of the courses will change in the coming years. Lectures will be recorded by the professor in the studio and discussed in the lecture hall or discussion board. Things are changing, not tomorrow, not in September 2013, but continuously.

Have a look at the MOOC CTB3365x Introduction to water treatment at the edX platform in September, to see how an online course will look like! You can register now: https://www.edx.org/course/delft-university-technology/ctb3365x/introduction-water-treatment/786

Do you have questions or comments don’t hesitate to contact me: [email protected], room 4.48.

Online education?Studying online

offers you the possibility of studying wherever and whenever you want. In 2007 the first courses about water treatment were offered as OpenCourseWare (OCW). An OCW is a free and open

digital publication of high quality university-level educational materials. OpenCourseWare are free and openly licensed, accessible to anyone, anytime via the internet.

Thus, OCW is course material, but not a course with a start date and an examination. This is changing! The newest development is MOOCs. A ‘Massive Open Online Course’ (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large-scale interactive participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help to build a community for the students, professors, and teaching assistants. More than 10000 students are already (end of July) registered in the MOOC CTB3365x Introduction to Water treatment starting on September 16th. Finally, we hope to welcome 20000 students in our MOOC. This is massive! The free course is open to everyone, without prior education or entry examination. So, students don’t need to pay for attending this course, but they will not get supervision of our lecturers. When they pass the exam, they get a certificate of attendance, not a diploma. Our MOOC is also a deficit course for external students interested to join our MSc and as such much easier accessible from September onwards. The availability of the MOOC CTB3365x means that the lecture series CTB3365 will become much more interactive. Transfer of textbook information is readily accessible, so why to repeat this in the lecture room? The MOOC development is a next step in modernizing education at TU.

Students aiming at a MSc diploma, and who preferable study online, are also welcome in September at the MSc track Water management. Online MSc education is intended as alternative for everyone who is considering the on-campus MSc education offered by TU Delft. This means that everyone who fulfills the educational requirements for starting our MSc can start online. This might be a regular student or a life-long learner who wants

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Last year, in the beginning of July I started my PhD research about rainfall runoff modelling. I had worked at the hydrology section for four years as a student assistant and the topic of my MSc thesis was closely related to the proposed topic of my PhD research. So, I didn’t consider beginning my job just before

the holidays as a problem at all. However, within two weeks it became really quiet at the faculty. My main task those first weeks was reading additional literature on my study area and figuring out how my research for the coming four years would look like. Unfortunately I am not very good at the first one and for the latter it is very useful to discuss with other people.

It might sound that doing a PhD is terrible. This is certainly not true, but the first months it might be a bit though. But by the end of the summer I had written a research plan and collected the first pieces of data. Especially the availability of some data enabled me to start with a data analysis and with my first model experiments. The latter really gave some flow to my research.

As I said, the topic of my research is rainfall-runoff modelling. And to be more specific, the added value of distribution in rainfall-runoff models for the Meuse catchment. This distribution can be of any kind and basically refers to any variable which cannot be considered equal for the entire catchment. For example, spatially distributed rainfall data, differences in land use over the catchment, or different dominant runoff processes, which require different model structures.

Last year I have mainly worked on the effect of spatially distributed rainfall data. In the remaining three years I will stepwise investigate the effect of different levels of distribution. In this way I hope to be able to point out which distribution level adds the largest degree of realism to the model structures.

I think that the main advantage of doing a PhD is that on one hand you have a lot of time to really dig into stuff and find out whether your ideas actually make sense. On the other hand you can do much more than only programming models behind your computer. First of all, as a PhD researcher you can supervise students for their additional or MSc thesis. Each research has many side tracks, which you can never do all by yourself. However, many of these side tracks contain interesting research questions and can be confined into nice MSc researches.

In addition, it is very difficult to model the hydrological behaviour of an area only based on observed time series. However, already when you visit the area shortly, you gain a lot more knowledge of the hydrological behaviour. Therefore, I have visited the Ourthe catchment three times this year, in different seasons.

Although as PhD researcher you have your own research topic, I certainly do not have the feeling I am doing my PhD completely on my own. First there is off course the contact and discussion with colleagues. I am doing my PhD research in cooperation with Deltares, so I can discuss my research both with fellow scientists at the university, but also with people more focussing on the operational side of modelling and forecasting. I like it a lot that we also get the opportunity to present and discuss our research with the international scientific community. For example last April I visited the EGU General Assembly in Vienna, where I presented my first results with an oral and a poster presentation. Especially during the poster presentation I talked with a lot of experienced international hydrologists.

A P

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A PhD; digging into stuffTanja Euser

The Ourthe catchment

“The first months might be a bit tough”

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Prof. ir. J.B.M.Wiggers

The Kosi River Floods: Part IIDruppel Magazine published in the last edition an

article of prof. Dhrubajyoti Sen from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur about the Kosi River floods in 2008. Druppel recieved a reaction on this from prof. Wiggers, who worked for Doctors without Borders in Bihar (India) in 2008 when the floodings occured. He wrote a report about the floodings and Druppel is more than happy to publish his view on these floodings as well.

The Kosi is a River that crosses the border between Nepal and India. The river drains a large part of Nepal before it enters into India. The area it drains is mountainous. The gradients of the three rivers that are on Nepalese territory drain the area, are steep. As a consequence the river carries huge amounts of eroded material to the border. The transported material consists roughly of 30 % pebbles and stones, 40% of sand and 30% of silt (clayey material).

In essence the river is a perennial river which means that it shows a high flow during the monsoon, which is from July until mid October and a low flow during the other months.

At the point where the Kosi enters the Ganges floodplain, it has formed a huge deltaic area. This is a very exceptional phenomenon. Normally rivers form deltas when they pour into oceans or sees (The Mississippi, Amazon, Orinoco, Rhine, Nile, Ganges and many more rivers end up in a delta when reaching a see or an ocean).

It seems that the formation of the land delta of the Kosi River is related to the fault zones that roughly are laying in a north south direction. Originally the river followed an eastern course. When the river had silted up the (little) depression that was in line with the tectonic fault, it shifted its course to the west. In historic times this shift to the west has occurred many times. In 230 years the river migrated 210 km to the west.

In pre- and in colonial times, many attempts have been made to tame the river. These attempts were not very successful. Many times the river breached the banks that were meant to keep it on its course, causing devastating floods. The reason

that the breaches occurred was that the riverbed year by year was silting up. Eventually the river took a new course destroying whatever infrastructure came in its way.

The taming of the riverIn the 1950th, in the wake of the independence

of India when there was a demand for grand public schemes, it was decided that at the place just before the Kosi enters India, a barrage should be constructed. The barrage would have a double purpose. The first one was that it made the production of electricity possible. The second had to do with the hope that the migratory nature of the Kosi River could be tied up.

In 1961 the barrage and adjacent structures were ready. The latter consisted of two huge embankments that started at the left and right side of the barrage and curved into northerly direction. These dykes should prevent the river to change its course as it had done in the past. Perpendicular to the dykes spurs (groins) were constructed that should force the river to keep a deep channel.

Downstream of the barrage, on the average every five year, there were major collapses of dykes along the river. The cause was neglect of the necessary maintenance of the dykes. The responsible officials however said before the parliament of the State of Bihar that nature could not be tamed. It was the foxes and the rats that undermined the foundations of the dykes, they said!

The catastropheOn the 18th of August 2008 part of the eastern

embankment collapsed. The consequences of this collapse were devastating. The water stored in the reservoir between the two embankments hurled itself with great force and at high speed into the area downstream. At least five villages were wiped from the globe. At the moment of writing it is not yet known how many people were killed by the raging waters.

What caused the collapse of the embankment? The answer is simple but has a horrific facet.

It is human greed, leading to corruption and gross

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neglect of the necessary maintenance. The last years many warnings had been sent to the responsible authorities that a catastrophe could occur. The warnings were simply neglected. Money allocated for the repair and maintenance never arrived at the proper place. Even three days before the breach occurred, engineers working at the dykes had warned the Government of Bihar and the authorities in Delhi that a collapse of the dykes was imminent. In the year 2000 the International Commission on High Dams had also warned the Indian Government that there was a real danger of the collapse of the embankments. Also this warning was not taken serious.

What in a technical sense caused the collapse?In the years since the building of the structures

the reservoir between the embankments gradually silted up. The level of the bottom was in 2000 already 6 m above its original depth. At this stage the spurs could not do their work. They were overflown by the river water. The river started a meandering course through the silted up area. One of the bends in the meander touched the toe of the eastern embankment and started undermining

the toe of the structure. The engineers responsible for the maintenance knew about the thread and tried to shore the toe of the endangered part of the embankment with rocks. The work was tremendously delayed because of the fact that the road on the dyke was in a very bad shape, again due to embezzlement of funds and corruption, that made it difficult to get the big rocks in place.

Then the dyke breached. The breach occurred when the flow in the river was roughly one sixth of the normal flow in the rainy season!

At the moment of writing the water has receded considerably. At most places the fields are void of water. It now becomes quit clear that the damage to the infrastructure is tremendous. Roads have been swapped away, bridges collapsed, irrigation structures are demolished. In a large area the rice harvest has been destroyed. The second crop in the dry season is barley or wheat. The soil however is too wet to do the tilling. It has to be feared that hunger will strike the population of whom the larger part has meanwhile gone back to their villages.

What can be done?Two solutions are cropping up in the press and

in reports.The first one is to accept the situation as it is.

This however makes it necessary to take measures along the many branches that the Kosi has reopened in its delta. Now and then there will be (controlled) inundations but never that extensive as the last one.

The second one is to repair the breach and start the dredging of the area between the embankments.

Both solutions seem to be viable but the long term success of the operations depends on the willingness of the responsible people in all ranks of the government, to set aside their greediness.

‘Een project is nooit een kunstje dat je kunt herhalen.’

Deltares is een onafhankelijk kennisinstituut voor deltatechnologie. We

werken wereldwijd aan innovatieve oplossingen voor water-, ondergrond-

en deltavraagstukken, die het leven in delta’s, kusten riviergebieden veilig,

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advertentie A4 Micheline duotoon.indd 1 20-8-2010 16:00:33

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Curriculum ChangesPradeep Rathore

The Masters course in Water Management at TU Delft is one of the highest ranked courses globally. Students from all over the world attend this course leading to exchange of Ideas and Knowledge. This makes it essential

to not only uphold the standards but to improve them in order to keep ourselves ahead of the curve. To keep pace with changing requirements, the course structure, facilities, curriculum etc. needs to be updated from time to time. Bearing this in mind, the Water management track decided to make some changes in the course structure this year which will be put into effect from fall 2013.

First and foremost change consists on reducing the number of compulsory courses from six to four. This provides more flexibility to students in choosing the courses that meet their interests. They get to specialize in their fields while at the same time they will be also prepared for dealing with multidisciplinary problems through attending the compulsory courses. The compulsory courses provide a basic taste of different disciplines of the water management track such as urban drainage, water treatment processes, hydrological Processes and integrated water management. All the compulsory courses are shifted to the first quarter making it easy for students to decide which specialization they want to follow and choose the elective courses accordingly.

Second, the curriculum has also been changed to make the compulsory courses more general. This allows students to get a feel for the different aspects of Water Management rather than developing a specialized skill set. Some specialized courses are thus replaced with more basic courses in the list of compulsory courses. For instance, the course ‘Hydrology of Catchment, Rivers and Deltas’ is going to be replaced by ‘Hydrological Processes and Measurements’ as compulsory course. The former is becoming an elective course for the students who wish to gain advanced knowledge in Hydrology. ‘Fundamentals of Drinking Water and Wastewater’ changes to a more general course named “Fundamentals

of Water Treatment”. Courses are going to be shifted across periods in order to keep the work load consistent for students over the time: courses are going to be arranged across periods in such a way that no period has too many courses where students have to put in extra work hours.

Other than these internal changes, the water management track is also taking part in MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), an initiative of TU Delft. We are proud to mention that the course ‘Introduction to Water Treatment’ is one of the first two courses at TU Delft offered via MOOC. This coming academic year, the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences starts providing the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) course using the international ‘Edx’ platform. MOOC is free to everyone with no prior education requirements or entry exams. Furthermore, the whole Watermanagement master track can be taken online or individual subjects from this Msc can be selected. Students wishing to participate in the online Msc have to pay tuition fees, register at TU Delft and meet the admission requirements. This is a huge step towards making good university education accessible to all. More information regarding the online courses offered can be found on the webpage of CITG under TU Delft website.

We hope to see the positive impact of all these changes in the coming session. As usual the Watermanagement track will continue to be a torchbearer for other programs at TU Delft . We are never content and continually strive for excellence and perfection. As Leo Tolstoy puts it: “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content”.

“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content”

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was about using microbes in engineered systems. Part of that MSc was a practical period, which I spent as a kind of consultant in Colombia for seven months, though not being graduated. There, I became inspired to work on developing technologies that not only solve a problem, but also give benefits to the ones using the technology. In my case it was the biogas, the stabilized organic matter, the nutrients, etc., which I tried to collect from the waste streams and at the meantime solve the environmental problem. When my professor, Mr. Lettinga, asked me to stay, I did not hesitate a moment provided I could work on that topic. I became involved in two projects, one of two years and one of three years, on which I wrote my PhD thesis. The topic was thermophilic anaerobic treatment which was oriented on closing the water cycles within industries.

Q What are the key projects you are involved in right now?

The current projects are mostly about developing environmental technologies for resources recovery, including water from used urban streams and industrial streams. A project that we are involved in now is with Evides Industriewater at Harnaschpolder. It is about the reclamation of treated effluent to be used in greenhouses for irrigation purposes. The regulations are very strict and we also see that the technology is rather expensive. An alternative to distributing the treated water to greenhouses is to use it against intrusion of subsurface salty water near Delft. This application, however, requires the highest level of treatment. Another project is the maximization of the energy recovery from sewage sludge using anaerobic technology, in order to obtain a treatment system which is energy neutral.

There are international projects as well. One is about anaerobic membrane bioreactors where we work together with the University of Valencia in Spain. Another project is about the development of the treatment system of the future together with two Dutch universities and 7-9 Spanish universities.

Q What about your family life?

Unfortunately, there is a large distance between my family house and myself so I can only meet them ‘life’ in the weekends. But we are all digitally connected, updating ourselves with our family app. I have three children: my son Luc will be 25 in September, he is studying ICT Management at the University of Applied Sciences (HBO) in Heerlen. My oldest daughter, Lieveke, is 22 and she is studying at the conservatorium in Maastricht for becoming a music teacher; her major instruments are violin and piano. My youngest daughter, Janine, will become 20 and has just decided to study Oriental Business in Maastricht, in addition to Economics and Communication she will learn Chinese.

Another edition of ‘getting to know a staff member’, this time Druppel Magazine had a little chat with Jules van Lier. Now you can finally get to know everything you always wanted about Jules van Lier.

Q Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Jules van Lier, and I am holding the Chair of Wastewater

Treatment / Environmental Engineering, though I try to abandon the term wastewater. I’d rather speak of ‘used urban water’. This also illustrates my view on the field. I am also chairing the Section Sanitary Engineering that comprises more chairs. There are two full-time chairs, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, and there are some additional chairs: Innovative Water Purification processes, Water & Health and Sewerage. My view on the Sanitary Engineering field is that we should integrate the chair groups, approaching the urban water chain more as an integrated cycle. Traditionally, and in most places of the world, the chair groups on drinking water, wastewater and sewerage are still working rather independently, but I would rather establish an integrated sanitary engineering group with of course room for in-depth specialization. Particularly in the interdisciplinary fields there are advancements to be made, and I also expect the innovations there. I came to Delft in the end of 2008 and followed up the part-time chair of Jaap van der Graaf. He was a wastewater treatment professor. Before that, I worked for 20 years in Wageningen at the department of environmental technology. There, I was chair holder of a particular type of treatment, namely anaerobic wastewater treatment.

Q How does a regular week look like for you? How do you distribute your time?

Well, I don’t live in Delft and that characterizes me a bit. I’m living in the south of Limburg, in the “mountains” of the Netherlands. Since that is more than 200 km away from here, I decided to have a room in the center of Delft, at the Verwersdijk with a view on the canal. So on Monday I come to Delft and leave on Thursday evening. One day per week I am working at home, which is generally Friday. I am also working at UNESCO-IHE one day per week.

Q What were your professional expectations when you became a young graduate?

I’ve had a very strange career. I started my academic career in (micro)biology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. But when I was a student in microbiology I felt that I wanted to use this for something, and I went to Wageningen University to do my masters in environmental technology. The subject of my final thesis

Getting to know......Jules van LierLuis S. Ruiz & Frans Willem Hamer

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Unfortunately, no one is interested in my working field, though I tried hard, but apparently children always want to do something different than their parents do…

Q What kind of activities do you like to do during your holidays?

No, well, in the past years I combined it with some work that I promised I would do, for instance, in Mexico. I was two times there, giving a course in July and I had the opportunity to stay some weeks after. Last year I discovered sailing and this year I am going two weeks to Greece. But I like South America a lot, it’s a very nice continent.

Q And how do you spend your spare time? Any hobbies?

I do not have much spare time. If you are in a position like this you are working at least -60 hours a week. So the spare time that you have is just a little. But, for instance, on Sunday mornings I try to go cycling on my racing bike, go to the forest on my mountain bike, or just walking with my wife, etc… In the past, when I was 20 or so, I played guitar in a band but not anymore. And I like to go to carnaval in South Limburg and “play” the trumpet, or at least make some noise with it...

Q Based on your experience, any advice for our readers, both the new students and

those ones close to graduation?Well, what drove me in my choices when I was

a student is that I felt that what I was doing should really matter. You get your motivation and your passion from there. For instance, I also like to be involved in the work of UNESCO-IHE, to contribute to actual information exchange to developing countries. At present you see that this is not exclusively the terrain of UNESCO-IHE anymore, since now universities are internationalizing very rapidly and the differences between the course-programs of UNESCO-IHE and TU Delft is a little bit vanishing. Our current research items are dealing more and more with global issues rather than only with Dutch issues. For the students,

with the knowledge that you gain and the career that you choose you can do something that makes this world a little bit better. My experience is that with everything you do, you must feel passion inside, because you need to get your energy from somewhere. If you can get it from your passion, that’s fine. And that is also what makes travelling nice because when you travel you can reflect on what you do and you can feed your passion. Passion is important. But you have to work. You have to invest time. It costs a lot of time. The world is getting more and more competitive.

Q Then, how do you see the future of the water sector?

Water will remain very important but there are two things about competitiveness I would like to say: one is that the students now at TU Delft are not the only ones who are working in this field. So you have to be good, really understand the topic in order to put something on top of it that differentiates you. For instance, China is extremely eager to learn and to develop at accelerated speed. They are really pushing on their own development creating a very competitive student population. At the same time, I sometimes see the attitude here, even expressed by my own children: ‘Let’s have first some fun and later we will do the work… but first, fun’. Be careful because a lot of people are waiting to have important positions and they are really working very hard to get those positions. Not so long ago, in The Netherlands in the largest companies only one out of ten of the workers were foreigners. Now, only one out of ten are Dutch. Companies like Shell, DSM, Dow… they take the best people they find and they are not necessarily Dutch. So, as students you should realize about this growing competitiveness. And, in the meantime you must like what you do. This is the reason why passion is so important.

Q Which ones do you think are the hot topics in waste-water? And the trends?

I think that here in Delft we have a very unique position: this is the only place where drinking water, wastewater, sewerage and conveyance systems are all in the same location. This is the only place in The Netherlands where that happens. And this gives us strength and assets. That is also because we have started Delft Urban Water. A further integration in the urban water cycle will surely become a trend worldwide. Delft has the possibility to be on top of that development.

Q Finally, are there any projects students can get involved in?

All of them. Now we have 50-60 PhD students so we have a lot of possibilities. All of them can work with MSc students. In addition to that, depending on the wishes of the student, we can think on additional projects.

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Inte

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Struan Robertson

It has been roughly a year since I left South Africa to begin my studies at the TU Delft. With four terms behind me it is a good time to reflect on an amazing experience so far. I boarded the plane in Johannesburg at 1600 m above sea level

and arrived at Schiphol below sea level – this was just the first of many new experiences!

Before leaving South Africa I was given an OV Chipcard by a colleague who had recently been to the Netherlands and was told that the Dutch system is, and I quote, ‘very, very, very good’. Public transport is not South Africa’s strong point and a nationwide OV Chipcard-type system is like something from another planet. On my second day I decided it was time to use this supposedly magical card. My first taste was as a wide-eyed African taking a bus to this incredible store called Ikea (no Ikeas back home). The next day another ‘fresh off the boat’ South African and I took a train for the first time in the Netherlands (we had been picked up from Schiphol in busses). Along came the train right on time and in I stepped … but to my surprise there was no OV scanner on this train. I thought the OV scanner would be on the train just like on the bus I took the day before – I don’t know what I had been thinking and I don’t know how I failed to notice everybody else scanning their cards on the platform. Despite being true, the conductor was not impressed with my story. It took quite some explaining and pleading (plus showing my South African drivers licence) to avoid a fine. After this initial blunder, the public transport system has been absolutely brilliant!

I studied Afrikaans (a language derived mostly from Dutch) for 12 years at school in South Africa but it was always my worst subject. Upon arrival I was quickly reminded that I am very much an English-speaking South African as I struggled to follow Dutch conversations – this was rather disappointing. However, being able to read signs, food labels and understand a little is still a good advantage over other international students. The Dutch speak very good English which is great but

International student from 1600m above sea level

not ideal for a lazy English-speaker to learn Dutch. I plan to take some Dutch classes and try harder after the summer break.

One of the best things about studying at the TU has been the opportunity to meet so many different people from all over the world. It has been great to make friends amongst such a diverse and talented group of students and lecturers. The courses so far have been a lot of work but I have also learnt a great deal. I have also used Delft’s good location to explore the Netherlands and parts of Europe. It is so easy to travel and explore here with everything so close by!

Of course the weather has been a challenge at times especially with the ‘late’ spring this year. But it is strange how quickly I have become used to low temperatures – I never thought I would consider anything over 10 degrees as warm! From cycling to stroopwafels to water everywhere, the Netherlands has been a great experience. Perhaps one of the best things has been the chance to walk anywhere, at any time of day or night and feel safe. This safety is something I really wish South Africa (and other parts of the world) had – it completely enhances a society for the better and the Dutch should hold on to their safe country with pride.

All in all it has been a great year and I am glad I chose to study in the Netherlands. Studying overseas definitely broadens one horizons and it has been an enriching experience to live in a new country. I am now looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of my second year!

“Of course the weather has been a challenge at times”

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The weather forecast showed excellent sailing conditions: sunny and a strong wind. However, amongst the participants there was only one who had adequate sailing experience. Therefore, we didn’t spend the first day on open water, but went “sailing” in the canals of Leiden instead. After the sailing we visited the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland with a private guide, who was particularly well informed on water law and organisation (aka Erik Mostert). After a nice dinner in Leiden we closed the day with some drinks at the campsite and headed for our cosy accommodations.

The next day it was finally time for sailing. The intention was for all of us to go sailing. However, when we arrived at the boat rental, they immediately saw that we were complete nitwits and land lovers (quite shameful for water managers). Luckily we had

“Sailing” weekendFrans Willem Hamer

Urb

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Urban WaM TripMaster courses are not only about attending

lectures, writing papers, and other situations where you remain seated. Luckily not! Apart from lab-work there are also other moments where you can stretch your legs and even see the world outside the CEG-building. In the fourth quarter of the past academic year a two day excursion was organized by two students, Mieke and Jose, for the course Water management in Urban Areas lectured by Frans van de Ven.

The excursion took us to residential areas in Gouda, Culemborg and Nijmegen. Actually, in Gouda we visited a construction site of a new residential area. This residential area will be situated in a polder. Therefore, the only thing we saw at the site was a layer of sand to make the soil “build-ripe”. The presentation gave us a better insight into the plans. One of the plans was to give the houses that were standing in the water at the rear and facing a dike a reinforced wall, to withstand a flood wave in case of a dike-burst . These measures for possible hazards are one of the many topics addressed during the course. Applying soft solutions in urban drainage is another important topic of the course. Especially in Culemborg we saw many so-called SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems), as this residential area was built in a groundwater extraction zone.

After we stayed in a hostel in Germany, where we had a very nice barbeque and many nice weizenbeers,

we left for an old blast-furnace factory in the “Landschaftspark” in Duisburg. While the old factory was kept in its original state as much as possible, the rainwater that eventually flows into the open sewer canal was treated by settling tanks to reduce the pollution.

Finally, we paid a visit to waterboard De Dommel in Brabant and one of their wastewater treatment plants. The Dommel is a small river that runs from Belgium through Eindhoven to the Wilhelmina canal. In summer, the discharge from the WWTP is up to 50% of the discharge in the Dommel. According to the European Water Framework Directive, the current pollution load is too high. To find the best possible solution, the impact and costs of different measures in the catchment, the sewer system or the WWTP are being modeled. The last day ended in Delft where we had a nice supper and could reflect on a pleasant and informative excursion.

Frans Willem Hamer

someone with the looks of captain Haddock but also with the ice cold nerves of captain Iglo: Dirk. With only him as a real captain we decided to rent just one sailing boat and one motorboat.

One would expect that with such a strong wind, everyone would be fighting to join the sailing boat. However, when we arrived at the point where we would pick up the others, almost all of them had already joined the motorboat and weren’t bothered to switch. Spending the day on the water in a motorboat with some rosé wine and your sweater knotted around your neck is something you’d rather do when you are 50 years or older… On the positive side, this gave the rest (including undersigned) the chance to have a nice full day of actual, proper sailing.

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On a sunny day in June, the second fitterij competition was organized. Thirteen pairs went into battle with each other to win the two games: ‘fitten’ and ‘kraantje drukken’ (tap-pushing). In the morning the teams got an explanation and they could exercise. The competition was opened by prof. Dr. Ir. Luuk Rietveld with a short speech about the importance of the dispuut as well as practical things like organizing the fitterij.

Then the competition began. For the laymen amongst us I will first explain what fitten is. Actually it is very simple to explain: you install a tap in a pressurized pipe. But in reality it is not so simple, with two men you have a hard job to set a good time. But with the help of good coaches (people from Waternet and Waterbedrijf Groningen) every team placed a tap in the pipe. The best time was set by Erik and Maik, they did it in 5 minutes and 44 seconds.

The teams had not only to ‘fit’, but also to ‘kraantje drukken’. Each participant had to push a tap in a spectacular squirt of several meters high. Fortunately it was a sunny day. The best time for the tap-pushing was set by Walter and Mark, they did it together in 34

If there is one course students wait for the whole academic year, it has to be the Hydrological Fieldwork conducted every year in the fourth quarter. The anticipation is huge and people start planning the trip from the third quarter itself. Having attended the course, one can confirm that all this fuss is well founded. The Hydrological Fieldwork brings out the real hydrologist in every student as they get a taste for the work they can do if they choose to pursue hydrology as a career option. All this while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Luxembourgish landscape, carrying out measurements in the lap of Mother Nature itself.

There were 25 masters students this year with a few bachelor students as well. The students were divided into five groups of five students each wherein each group was supposed to be responsible for one of the experiments and make a report on that experiment. Each experiment was assigned one supervisor to guide the students. So there were five experiments in total and each group had to do every experiment (except

their own) once. Every group had to do their own experiment twice.

The day started at 7AM with one of the groups preparing breakfast. Lunch was also packed in the morning itself and carried along. After breakfast, the students did the assigned experiment followed by lunch and then another experiment in the post lunch session. The setting for the experiments extended from very small streams (solute transport) to medium ones (rising bubble), from flat agricultural lands (evaporation) to hill-slopes (tracers).Once done with the experiments, a presentation had to be made for that day’s activity. After dinner, the presentations were held and the day ended with a beer or two (or more).

The trip ended with the whole group going for a fun evening. Everyone went bowling and then joined in the camp for beer. The next morning, the group was ready with their luggage to leave Luxembourg with memories and friends for a lifetime. If you are reading this, add the Hydrological Fieldwork to your bucket list. This is one experience you will never forget.

Fitt

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Pradeep Rathore

Dutch water managment related projects around the globe. [Source: dutchwatersector.com]

Arjan de KloeFitterij: serious fun

seconds, what is a very good time. The winners of the combined competition were Erik and Maik. They won the prize of 150 euro and of course the eternal fame. As a surprise they were also invited by the members of the KNW to join the national fitterij competition during the Waternet-fair.

The awards ceremony and the nice drink afterwards were a good end of the beautiful day. I think it is good to make a tradition of such a nice event. This time it was made possible with the help of several sponsors, namely: Saint-Gobain, Buelco, Conval and KNW.

Hydrological Fieldwork

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“It’s only the short one” I told people in the months before the MDE took off when they asked me about trip we were organizing. Of course strictly speaking a ten-day journey is barely half of the three-week-

trip that is organized every other year, but seriously, it feels like we have been away for at least a month! Very rapidly we interchanged our environments. Eye-opening visits to local companies, on the spot bus-ride-lectures from Thom Bogaard about karstic landscapes while driving right through them, parties on boats on the Donau, freezing fresh and roaring rivers, hard working border crossing officials, scenic towns, the beautiful Adriatic coast, somehow it all fitted in the given time span. Happily I’ll take the opportunity of this article to recapitulate a few of the warm memories I keep of this trip.

One of the things that were most impressive to me was definitely the water management tour we got in Sarajevo. Amila Ibrulj, who used to be a PhD student in Delft, had arranged a complete program for us. First we got a presentation about the works of the water management in the region in the office building. After half an hour we left the air-conditioned and drinks-supplying oasis and went (together with Amila) on our bus to visit a wastewater treatment plant that is currently not working due to damage

that has been caused during the civil war. We got an elaborate round tour and they were also open to show us the place where the wastewater was currently entering the large water cycle. Not a pleasant sight: Details up to the level of floating toilet paper could be seen as the wastewater mixed with the clearer water of the main river. -In all places we have been they acknowledged the bad status of some of their watermanagement responsibilities and the knowledge and willingness to address these problems were most obviously present, however the countries are restricted by a very limited budget. For me that was a new perspective: To have the mindset and all the abilities to manage primary conditions for the functioning of a society, but only being able to adopt your skills in some 20% of the issues due to financial shortages.-

I realize that I’m getting terribly off topic, but this seemed like the right moment to add this significant insight I gained during the trip. However, the wastewater treatment plant was not the final stop of the day. We continued upstream where a drinking water plant was located. The water that was taken in there, needed only little treatment before it was suitable for distribution. The final place where Amila took us was the source of the river. Very beautifully situated in a park, the water came out of the rocks as crystal clear sprinkling water. The affiliated places that we visited during this day all being very well put into each other’s context by Amila, really created a complete picture of how water management goes about in Bosnia and Herzegovia. This made that for me it was the most interesting that I got to learn about water related issues in the Balkan.

The second thing I want to share is the day that we headed for Montenegro. It was an early

“It feels like we have been away for at least a month!”

MDE Mind Spinsels Frits Dankers

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and error approach and luckily we could conclude that the bridge was strong enough.

On the other end of the border a thrilling white water rafting trip was waiting for us. This was EPIC! Going down a broad river in a rubber boat and peddling was only necessary for steering, progress was all arranged by the huge river flow. Swimmers and non-swimmers (brave Pradeep), all took a dive in the icy water halfway the trip from a 5 meter high rock.

After everyone had well arrived back at the base and a nice traditional Montenegrin lunch was enjoyed, we continued to the centre of the country. Zabljak, which is located in the middle of Durmitur National Park. Google maps says it takes 1.5 hour drive, but we needed at least five stops to stand on a tremendous dam, take pictures of (Europe’s Deepest) Tara Canyon, slide from glaciers and take pictures of various mind boggling other picturesque scenic sights, plus the bus could most of time drive no faster than 30 km per hour because the roads were very windy, so we arrived only after the dark! Luckily we were welcomed by another nice traditional Montenegrin meal, so everybody could go to sleep very well fed. The reason for choosing this second memory is undoubtedly the overwhelming beauty of Montenegro. Certainly one of the most impressive nature I’ve ever seen is out there.

OK, before I am going to get in too much trouble with the Druppel committee I’ll have to put an end to this story. I hope you enjoyed my mind spinsels, more will certainly follow from all the participants during the coffee breaks upcoming year!

MD

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wake up before got on the bus. Driving through the mountains with low hanging clouds that sometimes released some rain made our approach to the border special. Crossing the border was the first point of excitement of the day. The border was a bridge. For the readers who did do a civil engineering BSc: concrete strength calculations did not apply to this bridge. Only calculations about the combined strengths of some 20.000 little wooden boards could maybe say something about whether or not it could hold a bus containing merely less than 30 students... We decided to adopt the trial

“This was epic!”

WHEN YOUR CAREER COUNTS...

www.werkenbijfugro.nl

engineering

survey

consultancy

investigating planet earth

...JOIN FUGRO

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Historical Water Figure:Julius Sextus Frontinus

The water in Rome was distributed according to the head, discharge and water quality. Poor quality water was used for irrigation or flushing of the sewer system. Fountains, the drinking water source for

people without a household connection, and public baths used average quality water. Frontinus no longer allowed the water from different sources to be mixed, to maintain a good water quality and to be able to better monitor the discharge of a single aqueduct at every point.

His work was so detailled, that it could be used by the pope in 1453 to rebuild one of the aquaducts.

Like a true high society Roman, he was also in the military as a general. With his and others’ experiences he also wrote a book about tactics. An example from his book is the diversion of a river by Lucius Metellus, causing a flood in the enemy’s camp. This indicates that he was also interested in water management in conflict situations.

Frans Willem HamerJulius Sextus Frontinus was a Roman Water

Commissioner under emperor Nerva. Before becoming a Water Commissioner in 95AD, Frontinus was a Praetor (a minister under the emperor) and was later sent to Britain as governor.

Frontinus is renowned most for his report in two books on the history and state of the Roman water supply: de aquaeductu. It is the earliest surviving official report on Roman engineering made by a distinguished citizen. His report also includes the laws related to use and maintenance.

When appointed as a Water Commissioner, he first produced maps and wrote down the cross sectional areas of the whole water supply system in and to Rome to assess their condition. It was not only the condition of the pipes and channels that he was concerned about, but especially the water theft by farmers, tradesmen and domestic users.

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Dis

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Remko Nijzink

Dispuut Puzzles

Across6. Tracer7. Measuring device8. River Basin

Hydrology Puzzle

Sanitary CrosswordFind all the words from left to right, right to left, up and down, diagonally and find the solution!

M Y T I D I B R U T U A S B LE U M O N O D E B R E T L I FM S I N A G R O O R C I M O WI O N D C N O I T A T O L F DU V N O I T A C I F I R T I NP I P E T R E A T M E N T L OR E T C A B O R T I N T U T IE L O H N A M P E M Y Z N E TN O I T A R E A S E W E R R AR N O I T A N I R O L H C R LE Q D I S I N F E C T I O N UL H A D L H E J K P H P R N GF L O C C U L A T I O N Y O AS P T W W A S T E W A T E R ON O I T A N O Z O E C O L I C

SOLUTION: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Down1. Hydrologically closed area2. Measuring device3. Low intensity rainfall4. Hydrological model5. Flux

AERATIONBIOFILTERCHLORINATIONCOAGULATIONCRYPTOSPORIDIUMDISINFECTIONDWFECOLIENZYMEFILTERBEDFLOCCULATIONFLOTATIONIONIRONKJEHLDAHLMANHOLEMICROORGANISMMONOD

NITRIFICATIONNITROBACTEROZONATIONPHPIPERQSEWERTREATMENTTURBIDITYUASBUVWASTEWATERWWTP

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Dispuut Watermanagement Board and Committees

53th Board:Joris de Vos - President

Damian Allen - Vice-presidentFrans Willem Hamer - Treasurer

Pradeep Rathore- Comm. EducationMark de Weerd - Comm. Public Relations

Marlies Barendrecht- Secretary

Druppel Committee:Frans Willem Hamer - Editor in Chief

Pradeep Rathore - EditorVacancyVacancyVacancy

MDE Committee:VacancyVacancyVacancyVacancyVacancy

Symposium committee:VacancyVacancyVacancyVacancyVacancy

Activity committee:VacancyVacancyVacancyVacancyVacancy

Druppel Comic

Dispuut AgendaKeep an eye on the Dispuut Facebook, website and

pinbord to hear about the latest activities

September - Start of the year BBQNovember - General AssemblyDecember - Christmas Drinks

April/May - SymposiumMay - General Assembly

May/June - Sailing WeekendMay/June - Fitterij competition

June - End of the year BBQJuly - Multiple Day Excursion (GVR)

The Agenda 2013-2014

So, as a little preview, here’s what we’re going to

deliver this year:

September Start of the year BBQ

November General Assembly

December Christmas Drinks

April/May Symposium

May General Assembly

May/June Sailing Weekend

May/June Fitterij competition

June End of the year BBQ

July Multiple Day Excursion (GVR)

Throughout the year:

- All kinds of social activities, lunch lectures and

excursions. - Lots of drinks (End of exam drinks on Fridays,

Active Member drinks, New Year drinks, etc.).

- Four Druppels a year.

- And yes, the famous cookie break on Wednes-

days.

Well, now you know!

Join one of thecommittees!

The Dispuut is fully organised by stu-dents. Six boardmembers take care of the main tasks of the board, but there are also five committees organising various activities all around the year: Druppel: Interviewing students and staff for our really nice magazine.Activity: The committee for the main so-cial activities, like ice-skating or bowling.GVR/MDE: organising a great far trip, or a multiple day excursion outside the Netherlands

Symposium: The yearly symposium on various interesting topics is organised by this committee.Fitterij: The fitterij-competition has been organised twice now, and it is getting more popular each year.

Want to join one of the committees? Let us know!Check our website for more info:www.dispuutwatermanagement.nl

Retouradres:Dispuut WatermanagmentStevinweg 1, k. 4.742628CN, DelftThe Netherlands

Theme: The Graduation Process Online Education

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