The Water Institute of Southern Africa’s (WISA) 2024 Biennial Conference and Exhibition took place from 12 June to 14 June 2024, at the Durban International Convention Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.

This year’s conference, themed “Turn the Tide,” focused on changing situations to make progress, in challenging environments.

The WISA Biennial Conference and Exhibition was one of the largest gatherings in the water sector, bringing together experts from various fields to share knowledge and seek solutions to ongoing water challenges.

WISA unites experts from various disciplines to discuss, plan and present solutions for a sustainable water future in the region. Water is one of the greatest challenges facing South Africa and its neighbours, making it essential for governments, stakeholders, partners and the public to collaborate. Together, they must find innovative ways to manage water, ensuring a sustainable and robust supply for our growing urban populations.

Professor Faizal Bux, Director of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) has been a pivotal part of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology Conference over the years. Prof Bux was appointed as Chair of the Technical Committee responsible for arranging the programme.

He chaired and he participated in the first two plenary sessions and chaired another session. IWWT’s Prof Sheena Kumari and Dr Ismail Rawat (technical committee member) also served as session chairs.

At the WISA 2024 overview, the introduction to themes of the conference was done by Prof  Bux. IWWT staff and students also participated in a workshop on pathogen monitoring in wastewater organised by DUT and National Institute for Communicable diseases (NICD).

However, the highlight of the conference was the award presented to one of IWWT’s  PhD student for best student paper award, Siphelele Sibisi, who was supervised by Dr Ismail Rawat and co-supervised by Prof Bux.

Sibisi is a PhD student at the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology (DUT). He has a BSc degree in Microbiology and Genetics (2014) and an MSc in Microbiology (2018) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. His research interest includes algal biotechnology, wastewater technology, and microbiology.

When asked about how he felt after winning the best student paper award, Sibisi was elated.  “I am very happy that our research won the best student paper at WISA 2024, this will be one of the biggest achievements of my career, especially in an event of that magnitude. This was the kind of motivation or validation I needed at this time of my PhD studies,” he said.

Sibisi is being supervised by IWWT’s sterling academics, Dr Ismail Rawat and co-supervised by Professor Faizal Bux.“I am very grateful to my supervisors and The Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT), in particular, Prof Bux (Director and co-supervisor) for giving me this opportunity to fulfil my dream of obtaining a PhD qualification and better my career, and Dr Ismail Rawat (main supervisor) for his kindness and his advice, valuable discussions, and reviewing of my manuscripts and final thesis. Their scientific insight and perspective were invaluable during my studies,” he professed.

Sibisi further explained that he is deeply grateful to Prof F Bux and Dr I Rawat for allowing him to study under two of the most accomplished authorities on algal biotechnology. “I am humbled and honoured to have their names next to mine on the publications prepared from my studies,” he said.

The supervisors spoke on the calibre of student Sibisi is, indicating that he is a dedicated PhD candidate who is passionate about research and enriching the experience of those around him wherever possible. “I am confident that winning this prestigious accolade in a high profile conference will motivate him and benchmark his research to global standards,” they shared.

In terms of his PhD dissertation topic: ‘Development and performance of microalgal-based symbiotic systems for treatment of high-strength COD wastewater’ from the sugarcane processing plant. He indicated that the cane industry is challenged by the appropriate treatment and disposal of a large volume of wastewater which poses serious threats to environmental pollution. “For this reason, the treatment of sugar industry wastewater is essential to reduce the pollution burden on the environment. The study utilised microalgal co-cultivation strategies to augment wastewater treatment. Two types of Chlorella sp. symbiotic systems were proposed and exhibited significant reduction of COD (≥ 90%) in wastewater effluent. C. sorokiniana co-cultured systems are expected to be applied in various wastewater streams as low-energy, small-scale biological treatment systems,” he explained.

Sibisi spoke about the award, saying that he had presented his research work on Friday 14 June 2024, in the session themed ‘Struvite recovery and microalgae’.

“WISA bestowed awards in recognition of achievement in the fields of water science, engineering, and technology after a strict set of judging criteria by the various panels. Before the conference, students had to submit their recorded voice-over presentations for preliminary judging,” he added.

For Sibisi,  water will always be a relevant topic of research; his talk was centred on what IWWT is doing to turn the tide in water research and the development of various technologies. “In this context, my studies focused on the engineering of microbial consortiums guided by synthetic ecology approaches for wastewater treatment and generation of biomass for value-added products,” he relayed.

Sibisi indicated that this was his first time attending the WISA conference, which was such a wonderful experience with all water professionals in one venue, which offered an opportunity to network with various stakeholders.

The highlights of this conference and exhibition for Sibisi was seeing many of his former colleagues from UKZN being in the exhibitor’s areas working for various institutions like Rand and Umgeni Water, and some are in policy-making structures like COGTA. “It restored my value in education and research at large as most young professionals are recruited by these water-centred sectors,” he conveyed.

Going forward, Sibisi shared that besides completing his PhD studies this year, he plans on continuing with research at the postdoctoral level in the future. “I have a very strong research background and a passion for working with students from various backgrounds,” he said.

Pictured: Professor Faizal Bux, Director of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) with IWWT’s  PhD student for the best student paper award, Siphelele Sibisi, and  Dr Ismail Rawat.

Waheeda Peters