The past week has been awesome! Besides doing some really interesting work, I have renewed contact with a whole host of old friends (ranging from pre-primary school to university).
As I mentioned in my last blog, on Monday night I went to the Geotech Division lecture on failures - this was an ideal start to a week crammed with revision of my varsity geotech and hydraulics knowledge. On Wednesday afternoon I went to a site visit to see the construction of the seawater canal system at the new Point development. The sustainability of the Point development is questionable in my opinion (although I hope it succeeds), but the project of the canals was extremely interesting. The canals form a water feature for the new residential developments and are used to discharge the treated effluent from uShaka back into the sea. Important in the design of the canals, was ensuring that the water is continually refreshed in order to prevent stagnation, particularly in the dead end sections. Water will be pumped into these sections from the harbour ensuring that anerobic conditions do not set in.
Durban Point Development
On Thursday and Friday I was again lucky, as I was invited to attend the Landfill 2005 conference in the place of another DWAF employee who had already paid but could no longer attend.
Landfill 2005 and Mercer Lecture info
The conference focussed mostly on the design and use of geotextiles, geomembranes and GCL's (Geosynthetic clay liners) for the lining and capping of landfill cells. The keynote address was by Professor JP Giroud, and he gave the Mercer lecture, which covered the development and challenges in design of geotextiles. There were also papers on waste-pretreatment and legislation developments. My good friend Mark Griffith, who studied with me, presented a paper on his PhD research which involves the composting of waste in windrows to accelerate decomposition. Despite his nerves beforehand he did a brilliant job! Several other UND graduates presented papers, including a very interesting paper on the design of a landfill in Qatar, by Shakira Sattar. In order to construct an airport, an existing rubbish dump had to be moved, and Jeffares and Green designed a landfill for fast construction in the middle of a flat desert plain where the water table is less than 2m below the surface!! Amazing!!
On the legislation side, there was a very interesting presentation on the setting up of the "Green Scorpions" or EMI (Environmental Management Inspectorate), an investigative unit which will deal with environmental crimes.... Who knows, perhaps I will be one some day if DWAF and DEAT work together!!
At the conference I also caught up with another old friend, Halina, who is working on her PhD in microbiology at UKZN in Pmb. It was great to hear all the gossip and news of all the old school friends!
Although my employer hadn't paid for me to attend the conference banquet, I was again in luck, and cracked an invite via my varsity lecturer who had paid for all her postgrads although some didn't want to attend. The conference was held at the Greensleeves venue on Camelot Estate, and thus the banquet had a Medieval theme. Greensleeves provided a room full of costumes and organised some "semi-authentic" entertainment. This consisted of a Black-Adder-accented "bard" who led the audience in folk songs (some Irish pub songs, which I know well from childhood) and gave instructions on how to behave. For example, clapping is forbidden as it signifies that you are infected with a dread disease, and instead appreciation is shown by pounding upon the table with the provided wooden stick!! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and it would have been even more fun with a bigger group of friends!
Greensleeves
I was pleasantly surprised when my old friend Tanya, from Glenmore Primary School, contacted me from Portugal. I can't wait to travel overseas and visit her!! Hopefully it will be soon.
A busy week for old friends, I also had a very interesting group email conversation with some of the guys from varsity.. Needless to say, the plans for a camping trip digressed into a shocking conversation about blow up dolls.... Don't even go there!!
Anyway... I guess this is enough blogging for one day... Cheers
Deanne
PS: Thanks to Gravel and Cristina for the opportunity to enjoy Landfill 2005!
Durban Point Development
On Thursday and Friday I was again lucky, as I was invited to attend the Landfill 2005 conference in the place of another DWAF employee who had already paid but could no longer attend.
Landfill 2005 and Mercer Lecture info
The conference focussed mostly on the design and use of geotextiles, geomembranes and GCL's (Geosynthetic clay liners) for the lining and capping of landfill cells. The keynote address was by Professor JP Giroud, and he gave the Mercer lecture, which covered the development and challenges in design of geotextiles. There were also papers on waste-pretreatment and legislation developments. My good friend Mark Griffith, who studied with me, presented a paper on his PhD research which involves the composting of waste in windrows to accelerate decomposition. Despite his nerves beforehand he did a brilliant job! Several other UND graduates presented papers, including a very interesting paper on the design of a landfill in Qatar, by Shakira Sattar. In order to construct an airport, an existing rubbish dump had to be moved, and Jeffares and Green designed a landfill for fast construction in the middle of a flat desert plain where the water table is less than 2m below the surface!! Amazing!!
On the legislation side, there was a very interesting presentation on the setting up of the "Green Scorpions" or EMI (Environmental Management Inspectorate), an investigative unit which will deal with environmental crimes.... Who knows, perhaps I will be one some day if DWAF and DEAT work together!!
At the conference I also caught up with another old friend, Halina, who is working on her PhD in microbiology at UKZN in Pmb. It was great to hear all the gossip and news of all the old school friends!
Although my employer hadn't paid for me to attend the conference banquet, I was again in luck, and cracked an invite via my varsity lecturer who had paid for all her postgrads although some didn't want to attend. The conference was held at the Greensleeves venue on Camelot Estate, and thus the banquet had a Medieval theme. Greensleeves provided a room full of costumes and organised some "semi-authentic" entertainment. This consisted of a Black-Adder-accented "bard" who led the audience in folk songs (some Irish pub songs, which I know well from childhood) and gave instructions on how to behave. For example, clapping is forbidden as it signifies that you are infected with a dread disease, and instead appreciation is shown by pounding upon the table with the provided wooden stick!! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and it would have been even more fun with a bigger group of friends!
Greensleeves
I was pleasantly surprised when my old friend Tanya, from Glenmore Primary School, contacted me from Portugal. I can't wait to travel overseas and visit her!! Hopefully it will be soon.
A busy week for old friends, I also had a very interesting group email conversation with some of the guys from varsity.. Needless to say, the plans for a camping trip digressed into a shocking conversation about blow up dolls.... Don't even go there!!
Anyway... I guess this is enough blogging for one day... Cheers
Deanne
PS: Thanks to Gravel and Cristina for the opportunity to enjoy Landfill 2005!
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