Water under pressure: Roberta Hofman at the Water Gala

In the coming years, a lot of people in the water sector will be retiring and so new blood is urgently needed. To interest more young people in the water sector, HU and KWR are developing an education and research programme that focuses on practical water issues, including a water technology minor.

The Water Hotline

During the interview with Jim Jansen (editor-in-chief of New Scientist), Roberta talked about KWR’s Water Hotline. This is an emergency number that drinking water utilities can call day and night if they run up against a problem they cannot solve themselves. The water hotline allows KWR to respond quickly and, for example, open their laboratories to conduct analyses. About ten colleagues, including Roberta, have the phone with them in turns. If necessary, they can call on a broader group of experts to provide advice.

The water hotline is a part of the Environmental and Drinking Water Crisis Expert Team (CET-md), an alliance of eight institutions that can be consulted in environmental and drinking water emergencies. The team was established eleven years ago after a major fire in Moerdijk, when KWR conducted water analyses. Since then, the CET-md has been called in for incidents such as the Wadden Sea container disaster, the Fremantle Highway fire, the Valkenburg floods, the fire in a cold storage facility near Oss, and the Bonaire oil spill.

Image 1: Drought caused by climate change. Source: Rodi.nl

Image 2: Flooding in Valkenburg. Source: Onswater.nl

Image 3: Fire on board the Fremantle Highway. Source: Kustwacht.nl

Water quality under pressure 

In the interview, Roberta emphasised that the water quality of our water sources is under increasing pressure. In part, we humans cause this ourselves by using pesticides and through discharges, as well by using medicines that enter surface water through sewers and WWTPs. Roberta explains: “We are talking about 190 tonnes of non-biodegradable pharmaceutical residues that we in the Netherlands discharge into our water every year. It will be a huge challenge to meet the WFD targets by 2027.”

The effects are exacerbated by developments such as population growth, increasing per capita water consumption, an ageing population (with the associated increase in the use of medicines) and climate change. The last of these factors is leading to periods of water shortages, which lead to higher concentrations of substances in water, peak rainfall washing away accumulated pollutants all at once, and increasing salinisation due to sea level rise and land subsidence.

Roberta explains: “We have excellent drinking water in the Netherlands but it will be a challenge to maintain that standard in the future. We are working very hard to achieve that, both at KWR and at HU, where we are conducting research into the changes we face. Moreover, at the HU, we train the professionals who will have to tackle all the challenges in the water sector in the near and distant future. Those professionals must know about the latest technologies but they must also be able to deal with developments in ICT such as modelling and building digital twins, working with big data and artificial intelligence.”

Water treatment expressed in music 

A special moment during the Gala was the music that was played, which was composed by Roberta’s son-in-law Kent Moussault. His work ‘Fountain of Clear Water’ transformed the process of water treatment into music. You can listen to it here: SoundCloud – Kent Moussault.