Space-O at World Water Week
Last week during the 2018 World Water Week in Stockholm, we presented SPACE-O to our fellow water experts. During this showcase event three components of the SPACE-O Portal were live demonstrated to the audience.
Godfrey Masinde (Nairobi Water) shared experiences with algae blooms and high turbidity events they face in Nairobi, Kenya. He further presented feedback on our water quality forecasting platform from the perspective of their water utility. His key messages were that although algae blooms only affect about 5% of their water system, such blooms do require substantial labor efforts to clean the water intakes and forecasts would be economically beneficial. High turbidity events occur regularly with the beginning of the rainy season and can cause severe disruption of water supply. Turbidity further forces them to use different chemicals (aluminum chloride), which are twice as expensive as default treatment solutions. More frequent need to backwashing filters, as well as high labour demands for system cleaning and maintenance are additional issues resulting from turbidity.
“The SPACE-O tools and services could help Nairobi Water to better plan and prepare for such disruptive events, as well as improve communication with customers.“
Discursions with the audience were very insightful and once more helped us to better understand the diverse perspectives and requirements of potential end users of our solutions. Topics that were discussed included the potential application of the tools to forecast the spread of water borne diseases; the costs of using the SPACE-O platform customized to a specific location; and the uncertainty of the produced forecasts.
Find the opening presentation and video recording below, and please do not hesitate to contact us for questions or interest in our water quality forecasting and utility management platform.
