event
Friday 17 Feb 2017: Water Demand Management in Tourist Islands - Case Study: Galapagos, Ecuador
Professor Nemanja Trifunovic -
Harrison Building, HAR170 14:00-15:00
Santa Cruz, the most populated island and the tourist hub of Galapagos Archipelago, is threatened by the noteworthy increase in tourism, and consequently the local population growth over the last decades. As a result, the current water supply system cannot sustain demand growth rates, confronting the population with serious water supply issues. Due to the volcanic origin of the island, there is no surface-freshwater, therefore the water supplied is non-treated ground-brackish water and supply service in intermittent. The problem of water scarcity is further amplified by little initiative towards conservation of water, combined with a lack of technical, management and financial capacity of the municipal authorities. Even though the tourism only shows to be increasing, tangible solutions to address the urban water problems seem to be a very distant option. In order to address this issue, strategic planning of the water supply infrastructure is needed. Therefore, the urban water system model WaterMet2 was used as a tool to forecast water demand and supply on the island. The forecasting was performed on a 30 years’ time horizon, calculating the deficit of water supply with the current infrastructure and situation (baseline scenario). Several intervention strategies were proposed with the aim to solve the existing water crisis. Furthermore, these proposed improvement measures were assessed using various key performance indicators (KPIs), such as cost, energy requirements and water demand coverage. The results point a centralized water supply system based on desalination, combined with leakage reduction and water meter installation, as a suitable solution.
About Professor Trifunovic
Associate Professor of Water Supply Engineering. Specialist in the field of water distribution, in general, and in application of computer models in urban distribution networks, in particular. Apart from lecturing assignments, also involved in research guidance as well as in organisation of various forms of training, including online learning modules. Lecturing and advisory missions conducted mostly in Africa and Asia included participation in educational and training programmes, and capacity building projects. Next to his academic duties, served as the programme coordinator of the Sanitary Engineering Masters programme and online course coordinator. Currently, the coordinator of the programme in water distribution at UNESCO-IHE. The director of two large capacity-building projects conducted at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, in period 2001-2011. Presently, the director of two capacity building projects: at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa (since 2010), and at FIPAG (National Urban Water Asset Holding and Investment Fund) in Mozambique (since 2012), leading the consortia composed of several Dutch and international organisations.
