Emanti innovations showcased at WISA 2014

Mpumalanga province played host to the 2014 Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) Biennial Conference held at the Mbombela Stadium from 25 – 29 May 2014.

The conference theme was “Water Innovations” and Emanti was fortunate to showcase some of the innovative work we do for the water sector of South Africa. Papers presented included:

Development of Emergency Response Plans for Community Water Systems– Unathi Jack, Philip de Souza and Dr. Nonhlanhla Kalebaila (WRC)

Discussed the current progress within the project and the urgent need to develop appropriate protocols/procedures to assist remote communities with ensuring safe water supply in emergency conditions.

Development of Water Research Commission web-enabled and supportive spreadsheet-based wastewater risk abatement planning tools– Philip de Souza, Dr. Marlene van der Merwe-Botha (WaterGroup), Dr. Valerie Naidoo (WRC) and Unathi Jack.

Highlighted the two tools that have been developed, namely: (1) Wastewater Risk Abatement Plan Tool (allows development and tracking of a W2RAP), and (2) Wastewater Risk Abatement Planning Status Checklist Tool (allows the user to determine status of W2RAP processes).

Information and Communication Tool (ICT) Applications for the Water Sector– David Schaub-Jones (SeeSaw), Philip de Souza and Grant Mackintosh.

Shared some of the Emanti and SeeSaw lessons learnt over the last 10 years of ICT development and implementation within the developing world, including South Africa and Africa.

In addition, Emanti hosted a workshop on behalf of the Water Research Commission to inform and train users on the recently developed W2RAP tools. The workshop was very well attended and interest in the WRC tools indicates that a strong need exists to assist municipalities with wastewater risk abatement planning.

If you would like to find out more about the papers presented or W2RAP tools, please contact us.