WaterSan Perspective
November 15, 2013
The winners of the first ever International Water Essay Competition have been revealed.
The competition was organized by the University “Politehnica” of Bucharest – Faculty of Power Engineering in collaboration with the Romanian Water Association and the International Water Association – Romanian Young Water Professionals. The winners were team Number Eight.
The winning team included: George Dragomir (Romania), Albert Nkwasa (Uganda), Bianca Pricope (Romania), Georgiana Radu (Romania). Their essay ventured into the ‘Future in obtaining alternative fuels from wastewater treatment processes.’
For their winning essay, each member of the winning team gets a Samsung GALAXY Tab 2 and a 1TB External Hard Drive.
Up to Eight teams of four members from different countries participated in elaborating essays on required topics for two weeks
Team number four : Andrei Anastasiu (Romania), Amira Gogoanta (Romania), Kunakey Komlan (Burkina Faso), Anca Rotaru (Romania) came in the second position. Their essay concentrated on ‘Using nanotechnologies in wastewater treatment.’ Each members of this group wins a 1TB External Hard Drive.
In the third position was Team number Three. This included: Elena Isac (Moldavia), Razvan Roman (Romania), Denisa Stancu (Romania), Laura Stanescu (Romania). Their essay concentrated on ‘Cyanide hazards from gold mining to water issues.’ Each member of this team takes home a USB memory stick of 64 GB.
The three winning teams were awarded prizes by Mr. Prof. George Darie – Rector of the University “Politehnica” of Bucharest.
The essays were evaluated by four criteria: innovation, clarity, presentation and contents. The jury was composed of five recognized experts with extensive experience in research and design water industry.
Certificates of participation were presented to the competitors with promotional products offered by sponsors, by Prof. PhD. Eng. Constantin Bulac – Dean of the Faculty of Power Engineering and Mrs. Prof. PhD. Eng. Diana Robescu, organizer of the event.
One of the coordinators of these competitions, Assist. PhD. Eng. Elena Manea – the Faculty of Power Engineering – University Politehnica of Bucharest and Chair of Romanian Young Water Professionals says the competition aimed at, “giving the students and young professionals an opportunity to cooperate in mixed teams in a move to develop their knowledge based on each other’s experiences. It was also an opportunity for the participants to develop their ability to speak in public; an aspect I think most of the young professionals have gaps in and meet experienced professionals.”
Dr. Elena describes such competition as, “an easy way to promote the young professionals and their capacities.”
The competition was related to the International Conference on Energy and Environment. This year’s topic is ‘Smart solutions for water industry’.
