Johan Oost

On the 16th of May five groups of young water professionals presented their innovative ideas for water related challenges during the Wetskills competition. The winning team presented an impressive solution for dealing with drought and flooding in the Inkomati river basin area, shared by South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands was the head of the jury. He praised the five international teams for their out-of-the-box thinking.

Boston, Massachusetts, United States – After 19 successful editions worldwide in the last six years, of which two in North America, the Wetskills Water Challenge was organized in Boston for the first time (after last year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin).

Team ARCADIS won with the out-of-the-box concept 'Safety on Pillars', a multipurpose bridge to raise awareness for climate proofing the Seaport district in Boston.

Taipei / Tainan, Taiwan – After 5 years of cooperation with the Taiwanese water sector, Wetskills Water Challenge was organized in Taiwan for the first time. It was merged with the Water Youth Camp of Water Resources Agency in Taiwan. 24 Taiwanese and 12 Dutch participants were mixed in 6 teams, each with its own challenge. Visit this event page, see the Wetskills Movie & the News item of Formosa TV

Tehran-Iran, Minister of Environment and Infrastructure of Kingdom of The Netherlands, Ms. Schultz van Haegen announced and awarded the winning team of Wetskills-Iran. The Wetskills jury found that returning a flamingo to Lake Urmia to raise awareness on all kinds of levels in society (from primary schools to farmers to municipalities) was the idea worth awarding.

Wetskills Foundation with partners Center for Environment Education, DuurzaamDoor (RVO.nl) and Gujarat Pollution Board organized the second Wetskills edition in India.