Tiza Spit
Employee portrait
Tiza Spit
Water is precious – we need to appreciate that
My father works in the water sector too. I tried really hard to avoid following in his footsteps, but after two other study programmes, I ended up doing just that. At an orientation day for civil engineering, I thought: this feels right. Water involves everything: sustainability, health, and social relevance. I want to contribute to that.
Not according to plan
‘I quickly realised that I’m more a generalist than a specialist. That’s why I now combine my technical expertise with the roles of project manager and group leader. Switching between these roles can be challenging: the focus you need for technical work is regularly interrupted. At the same time, it’s the variation which makes my work interesting.
‘As a team, we have close connections with universities and are involved in various pilots investigating technologies for the future. Pilots almost never go exactly according to plan: you’re often doing something for the first time and you regularly have to rethink your approach. But that makes it really enjoyable. In the coming years, I want to further automate repetitive work to free up time for the major water-related challenges of the future.’
Reusing water
‘For Brabant Water, we’re working on a pilot to turn seawater into a suitable source of drinking water for Brabant. We use reverse osmosis: water is pushed through a membrane at high pressure, which removes salt and other minerals. How can you scale up a pilot like this to full-scale? And what do you do with the waste? These aren’t just technical questions; they also involve legal and ecological considerations. The great thing is that all the relevant expertise is present at Witteveen+Bos.
‘Projects like the seawater pilot are technically challenging and really interesting to work on. But if you asked me what the most logical next step would be, I see more potential in reusing water. We use huge quantities of water each day which, if we purified it better, we could use again. That would be a constant source.’
Reevaluating water
‘We have unbelievably good drinking water in the Netherlands, but we take it for granted. You even see videos on social media which allegedly prove that tap water is dangerous. That makes me angry, because the opposite is true: we have very high-quality drinking water. Water is actually too cheap if you consider how precious it is. If we use water consciously and appreciate its true value, we can safeguard its availability in the future.’
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