WaterFocus is a cooperative that unites the knowledge and experience of some 40 independent professionals in the water sector. Together with the Nedworc Foundation these professionals form a modern cooperative that combines a high-level of knowledge and experience with flexibility and innovative thinking. All members are independent entrepreneurial professionals who stand for quality and customer satisfaction. More About us or directly to Agenda / Activities
Project report: February 2020 - Brook Recovery near Assen
Landscape with cross walls in Witterdiep - Drentse Aa (Photo: Johan de Putter)
Products
The fields of expertise and corresponding services of our team members are geared to the following working areas:
- Water system management,
- Delta technology,
- Water supply management and technology,
- Waste water and industrial water treatment;
- Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH),
- Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM),
- Water sustainability and energy,
- Water governance.
The services include technical support and support with project and process management. More ...
Project report: June 2020 - Impression in corona time by Hans Slotboom
Dyke improvement along the Lek (Photo: Hans Slotboom)
Participation
Waterfocus is constantly looking forward to strengthening the organization and the team and opportunities for participation in its services. This can be achieved by, for example, introducing projects or participating in existing framework projects such as those of the HDSR (see further: About_us, Team, Products, Projects, Links and Contact).
!NEW!
WaterFocus introduces the option of a student membership at a very discounted rate. This initiative offers students the opportunity to participate as a junior and/or to carry out projects via Waterfocus with coaching in a full context of a cooperative of independent water experts. This initiative also offers the prospect of full membership and rejuvenation of the Waterfocus cooperative itself.
!NEW!
Interested to become a board member: the function of secretary is vacant! Also the other functions will become available! Further, we are looking for support in Coordination Netherlands and International.
Project report: Secondment services
Project report: Small scale and Micro-Irrigation Support Project
Project report: Groundwater Monitoring
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Agenda
6-9 November Aquatech RAI Amsterdam
Past activities
June 21-22 GeoBuzz Amersfoort
Treasurer Albert van Dijk visited GEOBUZZ on 22 June. GeoBuzz is a networking event, conference and exhibition. 2 days of meetings, sharing information and connecting. GeoBuzz is a collaboration between the geosector and Earth Valley.
June 20 NWP Summer Meet-Up with presentations from Adelta, IGRAC, BD+P, IUCN Netherlands
Jos Bonnemayer and Gerrit van de Klashorst represented Waterfocus. IGRAC is building an open groundwater - ecosystems database. IUCN gave a presentation of the IUCN activities which generally have a foreign focus. The meet-ups are especially suitable for participating organizations to present themselves and to network.
NWP Study Tours: 25 mei Marker Wadden en AWZI Harnaschpolder NWP Tour 30 mei 2023
May 25, 2023: Two Waterfocus members, Gerrit van de Klashorst and Michiel Schöller, took part in the NWP excursion to the “Marker Wadden”. This is a group of artificially constructed islands in the Markermeer. Here, Rijkswaterstaat, Deltares, EcoShape and Natuurmonumenten are investigating how the ecosystem is developing. In the seven years since the islands were built, all kinds of parameters have been monitored, such as introduced plants and spontaneously immigrating plant and animal species. An overwhelming biodiversity is created. In the week surrounding the visit, 35 species of birds alone were observed.
The complete research program is available on: http://www.kennismarkerwadden.nl
May 30, 2023: Michiel Schöller visited also with a group of about 20 people and beautiful weather the Waste Water Purification Installation Harnaschpolder (AWZI). It is the largest sewage treatment plant in the Netherlands (1.3 million pollution units) located between Delft and The Hague. This was built on behalf of the Delfland Water Board as a PPP project (Public Private Partnership) because of the high investment costs for Delfland. The installation was constructed under a DBFO (Design-Build-Finance-Operate) contract with a contract term of 30 years by the BAHR construction consortium (Veolia, Heijmans and Strukton). Evides operates the installation together with HH Delfland. The WWTP complies with the discharge requirements and currently no longer causes nuisance to the surrounding area (the odor complaints that occurred in the past have been resolved).
The purification process is described on the informative Delfland website.
April 19 General assembly in Bunnik
This year the meeting was held in the office in Bunnik with the option of online attendance. The second part focused on the Nitrogen problem with 4 presentations: development of environmental analysis using vegetation/plant species as an indicator, the Aerius model as an evaluation and planning tool, Remote Sensing to improve the mapping of nitrogen deposition, and recycling on a European and global scale as a solution for countries with too much and too little nitrogen available. Waterfocus hopes to participate with solution-oriented approaches. The animated meeting spanned from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
2022
1 December NWP Member Meet-Up Den Haag
CWF members Gerrit van de Klashorst and Albert van Dijk attended the NWP End-of-Year Meeting, held on Thursday December 1, 2022, from 4 – 6 PM in the building of NWP member De Waterschappen, The Hague. There are about 40 participants. Two new members introduced themselves with a short pitch. These were: VGE B.V. an expert in UV-C disinfection solutions for swimming pools, ponds & general and the industrial market, and Sensoterra, which sells soil moisture sensors for an accurate, simple and robust wireless IoT solution for real-time soil moisture data for agriculture and horticulture, smart resilient cities and water management.
20 October Brisbane floods
The recent floods (3 times in 2022 - 1 in 1000 year flood) makes Australians aware that it is better to work with water (infiltration, water storage) than to combat flooding in order to drain the water as quickly as possible. Albert van Dijk gave a lecture on IamWaterproof at the Queensland University of Technology (University of Brisbane). IamWaterproof is a simple interactive web-based computer program that uses open data to give the homeowner a pluvial water storage label and a fluvial flood label on his plot. IamWaterproof also provides more than 20 recommendations (including effect and price) to improve the water management on the plot and thus reduce water damage. The Dutch IkbenWaterproof was developed by Witteveen+Bos and the University of Utrecht. The activity is part of a Waterfocus project on individual water management in residential areas.
10 November Delta Congres Haarlem
8 September NWP Summer Meet-Up in The Hague
Ebel Smidt and Gerrit van de Klashorst represented WaterFocus. During the opening by Arjan Braamskamp of NWP, emphasis was given on the importance of networking and how this can be mutually reinforcing between NWP members.
Presentations by Fanack (news about water issues in MO) and EWA (Energy from Water Association) were interesting and provided a good opportunity for members to present themselves. Useful contacts have been made in the network section.
A program has also been developed in the structure of NWP for Young Experts (YEP), which we as Coöperatie Waterfocus (CWF) could make use of.
16 - 23 May NWP Member Tour 2022
Jos Bonnemayer participated for WaterFocus in the visit to Dunea in Scheveningen.
13 April General Member Meeting 2022
Another old-fashioned physical meeting in Bunnik: various plans to strengthen WaterFocus have been submitted and set in motion, most notably a student membership option.
24 March - 11 April Several Zoom-workshops on Waterfocus - Dropbox, Email, and Quality System
In preparation for the GMM, the WaterFocus systems have been updated by the members.
March 14 - 17 AQUA Netherlands Gorinchem 2022
WaterFocus was prominently present at Aqua Nederland Gorinchem 2022 in Evenementenhal Gorinchem. Aqua Nederland is a trade fair in the Netherlands in the field of waste water, drinking water, process water and urban water & sewage management. Joke Nijburg, Michiel Schöller and Albert van Dijk of WaterFocus are once again fully aware of the supply and demand of water technology, water management services and knowledge products.
Aqua Nederland Gorinchem 2022 also had speakers with interesting and informative topics such as:
- From toilet paper to security paper. Sewage water is a valuable source of raw materials. For the recovery of cellulose (toilet paper), we are talking about a potential of 4 million tons in Europe.
- Every drop counts in our digital future. Together we accelerate the digital transformation of the water industry. What can we learn from the past and other industries?
- Easy disconnection opportunities: pick the low-hanging fruit first. Uncoupling is standard for new construction and major maintenance projects. There, this 'piggybacking' can cost a lot of money. When nothing is planned, nothing happens. The rainwater will continue to flow to the mixed system there. This is where much more results for less money can be found!
Photo: Michiel Schöller
2021
1 - 5 Nov Waterinfodag 's-Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam International Waterweek, Aquatec
Several WaterFocus members attended in the first week of November on-line or in-person conferences including a NWP lunch meeting at Aquatech.
13 Oct Nedworc Association: Online Network evening
During the network evening, Tips & Tricks for Acquisition were shared and a start has been made for a new PAQ-group: pro-active aquisition and anticipating on new developments.
7 Oct PVW-RVO-NWP Waterproof event
13 - 17 Sep NWP project tours
The members are given the opportunity to visit various projects related to climate mitigation and adaptation: WaterFocus participated in three tours: Schouwen-Duiveland, Zwolle, Texel.
Project report: September 2021 - NWP Project Tour
Seaweed production in Schouwen Duivenland
15 Sept B-ALV for Waterfocus, with presentatie by Jarl Kind, water economist.
The meeting took place with a good one third of the members.
Jarl Kind presented an interesting topic. In 2019 Jarl completed his PhD thesis Drowning by Numbers – Social Welfare, Cost-Benefit Analysis and Flood Risk Management. This dissertation presents, among other things, an innovative framework for assessing climate risks, which better addresses social vulnerability and distribution issues, and which stimulates the development of socially inclusive (flood) risk management and policy.
25 Juni VVM Symposium - Invasieve Exoten
22 Juni NWP SME Workshop
21 Juni - 2 Juli Singapore International Water Week
2 June NWP Meet-Up
The online NWP Meet-Ups appear to be a very successful tool for networking: mingle and jingle, matchmaking. With a business profile, products, services, possible partnerships, project cooperation, investment and expertise can be offered and requested through messaging and 1-1 meetings.
8 April Waterfocus General Meeting
The ALV took place online this year in a new spirit with new techniques of collaboration and decision making (Zoom, SurveyMonkey). cWF continues on a solid basic formula including updated member and organisation profiles, quality system, data management and mail system. Thanks went out to Joke Nijburg who will remain chairman, the new secretary Jacqueline Bredius, and to Michiel Wind, who has carried out this work energetically in recent years. We are also looking forward to new initiatives nationally and internationally, including the associations Waterforce, Nedworc and NWP.
11 Feb Online Workshop Acquisition Abroad - EU Framework and Service Contracts
Last February 11, Sjaak de Boer and Albert van Dijk presented the EU framework and service contracts and a Waterfocus initiative regarding Pro-active Acquisition. This workshop was enthusiastically attended by a few dozen members of Nedworc, Waterforce and Waterfocus as the start of a possible new form of collaboration.
2020
Oct 29 NWP Member Meet-up
Various sessions in groups and 1:1 dates on: WB-WACA program, WaterWorkX and Blue Deal, (Urban) Floating solutions, KIFFWA, Watertech en Water for Food.
Oct 26 Nedworc Association online networking evening with theme SDG Monitoring
Instruments and data with exemples from SDG 6: WASH, 1.4 Land tenure, and 10: Inequalities were discussed in several groups.
Oct 5 - 9 India Water Innovation Week
cWF was at the Smart Water & Waste World (IWIW) technology and innovation week with a mix of keynote addresses, case study presentations and panel discussions on desalination, digital water, smart water supply and distribution, waste water recycle and reuse, and sludge management and dewatering.
Sep 11 - NWP Meet-up (online)
NWP took a virtual world tour on what is happening in the international water sector with a focus on WASH, SDGs, Investing in water, Challenges water intense industries facing, the need for sustainable water technology solutions, and more.
Sep 10 - Waterfocus General Meeting
The general meeting took place in Bunnik in special corona attendance setting. After the standard agenda with a review of 2019 and 2020 prospects, also a larger future was discussed on how to proceed nationally and internationally.
Aug 24 - 28 SIWI World Water Week @ Home
Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) hosted an online conference with support of the Dutch Government and NWP contributions.
cWF participation in sessions: Naturebased solutions to address water scaricity due to climate change (25/8), Improving water and landscape governance in Ethiopia (27/8), Co-benefits of implementations of nature-based solutions for climate related water and flood management (27/8) and Dutch Reception (28/8).
2019
Dec 16 Nedworc Association: Networking Eveninig Regional Water Management - prevention of geopolitical conflicts in Kargadoor, Utrecht
Network evening, with speakers Sjaak de Boer and Alexander Mueller, about water management in Lesotho and Egypt, and the need for water treaties and good coordination between countries and regions to prevent geopolitical conflicts and drought problems. Three members of WaterFocus participated in this evening: Albert van Dijk, Michiel Scholler and Gerrit van de Klashorst.
Dec 13 NWP member meetup in Deltares, Delft
The meetup started with a presentation by Toon Segeren on Deltares. It is a non-profit research institute that makes knowledge available and applicable worldwide and is internationally increasingly involved in IWRM projects. Deltares functions as a company but reinvests profits back into research (a.o open source software). Two cases were presented by Dutch Surge Support (DSS) on the global deployment of Dutch water experts and the Water Youth Network on the business opportunities linked to ‘water & conflict. DSS calls for more involvement of water experts in Dutch surge support (a.o. WASH related, geo-hydrologists). Experts can apply for their expert database. More information is available on www.dsswater.nl. The third case by Deltares on the application of social media during disasters is shifted to the NWP 20th anniversary meeting in January. Christa Nooy, Indonesia specialist visited the meetup for WaterFocus.
Nov 6 Aquatech / NWP @ Rai, Amsterdam
Biennial world exhibit of innovative water technology. The Netherlands was prominent with the Holland Pavilion, including the NWP Networking Café.Not only the Dutch Drinking Water Companies, Water / Purification Boards, but also the engineering firms and contractors / water purification companies are recognized worldwide for their craftsmanship and innovation. Joke Nijburg, Michiel Schöller and Jos Bonnemayer were present for Waterfocus.
Nov 4 - 16 Deltares Software Days in Delft
Yearly gathering of international water experts for training and updates on software. Jos Bonnemayer was present at the user days of DElft-Fews and WFLO.
April 4 Waterfocus General Meeting in Nijmegen
The meeting was this year in restaurant Sprok in Bemmel near the Waal river. The event started with an interesting excursion in Nijmegen-Lent. The Ecovillage Iewan was visited (www.iewan.nl) and Christian Beuzel (ABC-development) and Dennis Martens (Buro L in O) presented a new way of sanitation. The meeting started with the standard reviews, board changes, the adjusted qualitybook and new house rules. Finally projects in the Netherlands and abroad were discussed.
February 12 Knowledge session Monitoring and Evaluation in Environmental Impact Evaluation at Commission MER in Utrecht
The meeting addressed whole policy cycle with extra attention for the new environment law and specific examples and questions of practical experiences: Monitoring plan Amsterdam Harbour-City, Noord-Brabant Provincial Environment and Water plan. Present of WaterFocus: Jos Bonnemayer.
February 7 DRR-Team mission gathering: Angola, Cuba, and Kerala at RVO in The Hague
The developments of three recent missions have been presented. In parallel break-out sessions conclusions, recommendations and possibilities of follow-up by the Dutch water sector were discussed extensively. Waterfocus participated with Joke van Dijk and Jos Bonnemayer in the Kerala session (IWRM, Watershed Management, Room for the River, Living with Water, Building with Nature / Eco-Engineering), and with Edwin van Someren in the Angola session (delta with absence of drainage, stagnant water en WASH problems). Cuba fights the combined effects of tectonic tilt and sea level rise.
February 1 Vice Versa Workshop Learning of Evaluating at NWO-WOTRO in The Hague
The participants discussed in several groups about themes of impact-evaluation pathways including 'what to do with zero-effects', new frameworks, certification, theory of change. WaterFocus was represented by Marjo Vervoorn, Rolf Posthouwer and Jos Bonnemayer.
January 16 Regional Platform meeting West-Africa (Mali, Benin, Ghana) at NWP
WaterFocus was represented by Margo Meeuwissen.
2018
September 26 Waterfocus First Five Year Lustrum
April 4 Waterfocus General Meeting
