Water engineers of the future

Abstract

High school learners from around the country again assembled at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Gauteng, to participate in the finals of the Schools Water Competition, sponsored jointly by Rand Water and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). The teams were tasked to design a model water distribution network to distribute three litres of water equally between three points on a grid using two different pipe diameters. They were then judged on how well they execute the task. The learners were allowed three tries in one hour. A total of R15 000 worth of prize-money was up for grabs. According to SAICE, the competition exposes learners to the practical application of processes that influence their daily lives, which is how water gets to their homes. They Water engineers of the future are made aware of the intricacies involved in the design of water distribution networks, and the actual delivery of clean water to households. As part of the competition the water cycle was explained to the learners.

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