dws-wisa-wetskills-winners-770px
Minister Gugile Nkwinti of Water and Sanitation of South Africa and Dutch special way envoy Henk Ovink, awarded the winning team of the Wetskills South Africa challenge for their concept ‘Bye Day Zero’. The award ceremony took place at the WISA Conference in Cape Town on 26 June.

dws-wisa-wetskills-masterclass-350px  Masterclass with Dutch water envoy Henk Ovink on tackling complex water issues with various stakeholders.

Raising awareness for water footprint
The winning team Water Sleuths (on top photo) came up with a concept to raise awareness of Capetonians on their water footprint, on top of their direct water use.

The water footprint brings in other water users, such as the energy companies for the production of electricity, farmers to grow crops, and industry to make consumer’s products.

The team suggested to lower the water footprint for Cape Town as a whole, to avoid Day Zero - the day that Cape Town runs dry - on the long term.

The City of Cape Town and Water Footprint Implementation formulated the case and supported the team during their research.

Masterclass on global challenges
The Wetskills challenge was held for the fourth time in South Africa and this year's programme also included a masterclass on Global Water Challenges at the University of Cape Town.

Spoecial envoy Henk Ovink lead the masterclass and shared his experiences and reflections on tackling complex water challenges with various stakeholders.

About Wetskills water challenge
Since 2010, more than 500 students and young water professionals from 120 universities and organizations have participated in one of the 28 Wetskills Water Challenges. These events took place in Asia, Africa, America and Europe.

Later this year, Wetskills Challenges will take place in Semarang, Indonesia (2-16 September) and Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (15-27 September)..

Read also on this website
Winning team Wetskills Korea water challenge announced at Olympic Winter Games, 11 February 2018
AIWW 2017: Rain triggered fish passage wins Wetskills young professionals challenge, 6 November 2017
WISA2014: Concept of business wise training wins second Wetskills Water Challenge in South Africa, 30 May 2014
Country: South Africa

More information
Wetskills 
www.wetskills.com

Watch the movie about this year’s Wetskills edition in South Africa.