Annual report Chair on Drinking Water Engineering 2007 - TU Delft

Introduction
Since two years an annual <strong>report</strong> of the <strong>Chair</strong> on Drinking Water Engineering is published. The previous versions
can be found on our web site. We have received many positive comments on the previous annual <strong>report</strong>s
from the Dutch drinking water sector and also from academics around the world. This year we have used the
opportunity of the “Vakantiecursus” as a deadline for our annual <strong>report</strong>, so we can hand it over to all participants.
of this annual symposium.
The annual <strong>report</strong> describes the progress in education and research of the chair on Drinking Water Engineering
of Delft University of Technology. Our objectives are (1) to achieve practical breakthroughs in the drinking
water research by a coordinated research approach in close cooperation with the Dutch drinking water sec-
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and technology.
In 2007 our research group welcomed again several new PhD-students. Their research projects together with
all other research projects can be found in the individual research paragraph of this annual <strong>report</strong>. Presently,
nearly 20 PhD-students are working on drinking water research projects. Several of the PhD researchers and
supervisors have an appointment at a water company, research institute or engineering consultant. In this
way we maintain good contact with the drinking water industry. It also results in a dynamic, young and enthusiastic
group.
In 2007 Jan Vreeburg and Alex van der Helm defended their theses successfully. For 2008 another three PhD
researchers (Patrick Smeets, Rene van der Aa, Arne Verliefde) are scheduled to defend their thesis.
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in the last two years. Furthermore, the research group is developing all kind of new initiatives like the annual
workshop “High Quality Drinking Water”, a new on line journal “Drinking Water Engineering and Science” and
the Delft Academic Press publisher.
In 2007 we saw a further strengthening of the collaboration with UNESCO-IHE. Every month research colloquia
are organised. MSc and PhD researchers from both organisations update each other on their progress by
giving presentations and participating in discussions. These colloquia are open to the public and announced
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become stronger. Both organisations exchange lecturers to give the students better and broader education in
drinking water treatment related topics. It is the objective of both organisations to present ourselves more and
more as one Delft drinking water research group.
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deliver at the moment. Therefore we are actively involved in several actions to increase the number of drinking
water engineers. Examples are (1) the development of our part-time MSc for water professionals, which
has already attracted some 10 students from the water industry (2) the transformation of the Faculty of Civil
Engineering into the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering in order to attract more environmental
focused students, (3) the development of a NLT module “drinking water” for students in secondary school to
attract students already at a young age, (4) the development of an international masters on Drinking Water
Engineering in collaboration with University of Poitiers, University of Dresden and three leading universities
in the United Sates.
4 <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>report</strong> DWE 2007