Civil Engineering June 2022 | Vol 30 No 5

62 June 2022 Civil Engineering SA I CE and profess i onal news T he Division’s purpose is to promote the art and science of water engineering, including water resources, water quality investigation and development, and the provision of water supply and sanitation. In this issue of Civil Engineering , we feature the committee members of the Water Engineering Division who together serve the members of SAICE as well as the industry at large. Dr Gisela Kaiser Pr Eng, FSAICE Chairperson Dr Gisela Kaiser is a professionally registered civil engineer who holds an MBA and PhD. She has worked in various sectors of civil engineering over the past three decades, including consulting and municipal engineering, higher education, and retail and industrial development. She is cur- rently retained by an international company specialising in water supply and treatment as Vice-President of Sustainable Water Management. She is also involved in advising a number of local municipalities on water demand management, especially in drought situations. In her previous role she was responsible for utility services of water and sanitation, electricity and solid waste management at the City of Cape Town. During the record-breaking drought in the late 2010s she was the technical lead within the leadership of the city. Here she developed a passion for the complex challenges of providing basic services to the most vulnerable communities, often located in informal settlements. Gisela has a keen interest in holistic and integrated water and sanitation management. Abraham (Abri) Coenraad Vermeulen Pr Eng Immediate past chairperson Abri has more than 30 years’ experi- ence in the water sector in Southern Africa in both water services and water resources management, more than 15 of which were spent in the (then) National Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (now Department of Water and Sanitation). He has designed and implemented government support programmes to municipalities to develop institutional capacity for water services delivery and has been responsible for drafting numerous national government poli- cies. He continues to support the water sector on institutional, governance and planning aspects related to water management in a consulting capacity. One of the highlights of his career was completing the devel- opment of the 2003 Strategic Framework for Water Services. Abri loves developing solutions to improve management of water and related infrastructure systems. Thabo Ncala Pr Techni Eng, Pr Tech Eng Vice Chairperson Thabo has 20 years of civil engi- neering working experience, holds an MBA and is currently studying towards a PhD in civil engineering. Thabo represents the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, Durban, eThekwini Municipality Area and is employed by the same municipality as Line Manager for the eThekwini Water Inspectorate Section. He has worked for the municipality for 15 years in various units and departments. The main highlights in his career were when he was a junior site manager (earthworks) in the BRCD-JV Package D1 (Basil Read, RoadCrete and DipCivils) project worth R2.6 billion, and becoming a design engineer on a wastewater pumpstation project at Umdloti Beach in KZN. Thabo is passionate about reducing water losses at the local government level and has engaged himself with research studies on non-revenue water at master’s level. He is hoping to explore and share creative and innovative non-revenue water reduction strategies (thesis available from University of KwaZulu-Natal Library Archives). He is responsible for the external stakeholder engagements portfolio, including the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and International Water Association (IWA) specifically. Segomotso Kelefetswe Pr Eng, FSAICE Treasurer Segomotso is a professionally registered civil engineer with 20 years’ experience. He currently works for the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority as a Project Engineer where he is involved with engineering management as well as acting as employer’s representative during implementation of bulk raw water projects. His work is to ensure that projects are implemented within budget, at the right quality and on time. The Meet SAICE’s Water Engineering Division SAICE’s Water Engineering Division was established in 1965 as the Division of Hydraulic Engineering. Currently boasting 3 769 members, the Water Engineering Division is one of SAICE’s largest divisions in terms of membership.