When you are a water management student at the Hogeschool Rotterdam doing an internship in São Nicolau, you enter a very different world. Nick, Martijn and Pim have been in São Nicolau since the end of August, where they have gained wonderful experiences and helped the local community. Well done guys! Read what these great guys had to say:
“Bom dia! There are some things we have done in the past few weeks that were very interesting. For example, we went to a “natural water source.” Here we saw where the water comes from and how it eventually comes to the people. This goes through pipes that are underground and go through the mountains. Then this goes to a reservoir, where it can be stored. In this area, though, there is a problem. Because there is a difference in pipe thickness, a lot of water is lost here. Pim is now working on this to see if a reservoir can be built to counteract this. Martijn is currently working on drinking water supply. He has done some preliminary research about the water supply in Cachaço. He then started working on potential measures that could improve the water supply in this area. Nick is working on the threat of heavy rains that could cause flash floods in Ribeira Brava. In doing so, he is working on measures that could be taken to minimize damage during flash floods. At the end of September we went along to see how a pipe further up the mountain is being replaced. First there was a pipe that had been there since 2004 and it has now been replaced and connected. Every now and then it is still a little difficult to find out how everything works here and where we can find certain things, but we are getting used to it. All in all, things are going absolutely fine here. Tchau tchau!”
