The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has partnered with SAICE for the Aqualibrium Challenge for the second year in 2022. The Aqualibrium Challenge gave learners a grass roots understanding of how water gets to their homes. The event creates an experience of pipe system dynamics required to deliver water and awareness of water issues in South Africa.  It spreads the message that water is a precious commodity, which should be recycled, re-used and respected, while water use should be reduced.

On the 9th of April 2022, the Aqualibrium competition was held at UCT, and 14 high school teams participated. Parel Vallei High School emerged as the winning team and represented the Western Cape in the SAICE National High School Water Competition. The head adjudicator of this final competition is Tinashe Tanyanyiwa, a PhD candidate at UCT. Tanyanyiwa works under the Future Water Research Institute, and his academic research focuses on stormwater harvesting through managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure. Tanyanyiwa is supervised by Prof. Neil Armitage and Dr John Okedi and is a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics courses. We sat down with Tanyanyiwa and delved into his involvement in the SAICE National High School Water Competition.

“This is my way of paying it forward - while fighting the urge to convert them all to civil engineers.”

As a judge, what were you looking for in a successful team?

Tanyanyiwa explains that the game's goal is to ensure that three randomly distributed 1 litre L reservoirs fill up with water simultaneously. The teams are limited on the number of pipes they can use, which changes per event. All the teams have the same amount of water and pressure, and they must figure out the pipe configuration that will result in the required flow rate. The first reservoir to fill up is used as a reference point, and the difference between the reference and the remaining reservoirs is the penalty point. For example, if the first reservoir has 1000 mL of water and the other two have 950 and 890 mL each, the penalty point is 160 points. “A successful team builds a legal system that accrues the least penalty points”, Tanyanyiwa said in describing what he was looking for as a judge.

More than just a game.

Aqualibrium is a game and teaching resource developed to aid in understanding water distribution systems. The game was developed under the guidance of Tanyanyiwa’s then MSc supervisor Prof Kobus Van Zyl, now based in Auckland, New Zealand. Tanyanyiwa first got acquainted with Aqualibrium in 2018 when Prof van Zyl asked him to assist in running the Civil engineering leg of the UCT 100 UP programme. The programme assembled high school students from around Cape Town and exposed them to different STEM fields. The students were shown how to play the Aqualibrium game and taught about the functionality of WDS to stimulate interest in civil engineering.

"After the first contest, I realised that if we want to secure our shared water future, we will have to actively invest in ensuring the next generation gets more involved in STEM subjects," said Tanyanyiwa. Due to his enthusiastic involvement, Tanyanyiwa was requested to participate in other outreach programs such as the Winter School and, the SAICE Aqualibrium high School competition in 2019 and 2022.

Many important outcomes stem from student participation with water-based systems; most importantly, it spreads the message that water is a precious commodity, which should be used sparingly, recycled, re-used and respected. “When I was their age, conversations with professionals and a career guidance counsellor helped me decide on my undergrad programme. So, this is my way of paying it forwards – while fighting the urge to convert them all to civil engineers!” Tanyanyiwa explains the reason for his involvement in water.