Climate change will significantly affect the sustainability of water supplies in the coming decades. The amount of water available and its quality will impact people's health and food supplies. The Water Research Commission continuously strives to commission research and collaborations to address this challenge to manage water security.

On 17 November at the House of the Future in the presence of several South African Ministers and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Prof. Dr. W. van Vierssen, KWR CEO, and the CEO of the Water Research Commission, Mr. Dhesigen Naidoo, signed a Collaboration Agreement and Protocol (CAP) between KWR and the WRC.

KWR (Watercycle Research Institute, The Netherlands) – and the WRC (Water Research Commission, South Africa) signed a (CAP), granting the WRC membership to KWR’s Watershare program. Watershare is a family of trusted publicly financed institutes sharing knowledge and experiences in the global water sector. Both knowledge institutions will conduct joint research applying different tools from the Watershare® platform.

The CEO of the Water Research Commission (WRC) Mr Dhesigen Naidoo said “Our ability to ensure national water security will be greatly enhanced by this partnership with one of the world’s leading water research and development initiatives, the KWR. It will also give South Africa access to cutting edge tools and technologies in water”.

KWR is the initiator and coordinator of Watershare an international collaboration model for research centres focusing on applied research in the (urban) water cycle. Through the collaboration in Watershare the WRC will be in a position to better serve its end-user clients – such as water companies, utilities, municipalities and water-boards – so that these, in turn, can effectively meet the water needs of the people in South Africa.

KWR will organise joint (thematic) research programmes, as well as collective futures research in an integrated and intelligent fashion and the WRC will have access to a wide range of specific tools, based on solid science and of proven practical value. The benchmarked Watershare tools are designed for areas like water quality and health, sustainability, water technology, asset design and management, and water systems.

Contact: Adriaan Taljaard, Email: adriaant@wrc.org.za