MGB Victoria and KWR with Watershare at Aquatech Mexico 2019

After the successful attendance of Watershare partners MGB Victoria and KWR at Aquatech Mexico last year, the two organisations had an even bigger booth at the Holland pavilion at this year’s event. Aquatech Mexico is the largest water technology exhibition in Mexico, attracting many people from different parts of the country, including representatives from municipalities, government organisations, but also from private commercial and industrial companies.

This year MGB Victoria and KWR had another good reason to be present at Aquatech, namely, the start of a project in Ciudad Guzmán. Reconversión Hídrica de Ciudad Guzmán is a cooperation headed by Victoria and KWR and partnered with the water utility SAPAZA, the municipality of Zapotlán El Grande, Eijkelkamp Soil & Water and Dareius, for the benefit of the Zapotlán El Grande Municipality. Its purpose is to implement a package of smart water solutions to improve water supply security, while reducing energy consumption. It integrates intelligent wells to optimise the quantities of the water abstracted; hydric concentration to achieve the specified quality, and the replacement of the distribution network by a new state-of-the-art one. The tools needed to make this possible are based on the research and experience of Watershare members, and the project is conceived as a replicable reference for all of Mexico and beyond.

This fits perfectly within Watershare’s mission: applying global expertise to master local water challenges. It also accords with KWR’s motto of ‘Bridging science to practice’, and with Victoria’s vision to improve the situation in Mexico through the innovative implementation of best solutions. Several new connections were established with stakeholders in Mexico during the Aquatech Mexico event. The cooperation and the Reconversión Hídrica project were presented twice at the AquaStage, generating a great deal of interest. Moreover, the reception, which was hosted by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Mexico, attracted many visitors to the booth, including the Dutch ambassador, who we were honoured to welcome.

Thanks to the participation in Aquatec 2019, general awareness of the Reconversión Hídrica project in Ciudad Guzmán has been greatly increased. The interest generated might even result in a scaling-up of reconversions in Mexico, and thereby improve the water service and wellbeing of the country’s population.