Water and Environmental Engineering

Water and Environmental Engineering

Water and environmental engineering has to do with water resources development and management, yield analysis, low and flood flow hydrology, river hydraulics, design of hydraulic structures such as dams, tunnels and pump stations, water services, water quality and water treatment, as well as coastal and port engineering.

What's it about?
Researchers
Research Topics

What's it about?

In the Water Division, fields of specialisation include river and stormwater hydraulics, design of hydraulic structures, hydrology, water services, water quality and treatment, and port and coastal engineering.

The division is endowed with an excellent and spacious hydraulic laboratory where a large number of model studies have been performed. Computer modelling also finds wide application in research and specialist consulting work.

Researchers

Dr Adèle Bosman

River hydraulics, rock scour, design of large hydraulic structures

Email: abosman2@sun.ac.za

Phone: 021 808 4356

Office: S3039

Short Bio

Adèle Bosman is a lecturer in Hydraulics Engineering at the Stellenbosch University. She holds a BEng, MSc and PhD (civil engineering), all from Stellenbosch University. For the past 12 year she specialised in the design of Hydraulic Structures, and River and Reservoir hydrodynamic modelling and rock sour studies. Previously she worked for Aurecon for five year, where she was involved mainly in the design of water and wastewater treatment plants.

Education/Qualifications

BEng (Civil), MSc (Civil), PhD (Civil)

Professional Experience

2009-2013: Engineer, Aurecon Cape Town
2013 – 2023: Lecturer: Stellenbosch University, Department of Civil Engineering
2024 – present: Senior Lecturer: Stellenbosch University, Department of Civil Engineering

Honours, Awards, Memberships

Member of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA)
Awarded Best Presenter by a YPF member at the 2019 SANCOLD Conference

Research Interests

Design of Hydraulic Structures
River and reservoir hydrodynamic modelling
Sedimentation and rock scour studies
Physical and numerical modelling

Selected Publications

• Bosman A and Basson GR (2020). Physical model study of bedrock scour downstream of dams due to spillway plunging jets, Journal of South African Institute of Civil Engineering, 62(3), 36-52. ISSN 1021-2019.
• Bosman A and Basson GR (2019). Rock scour hole equilibrium geometry prediction for plunging jets at dams. SANCOLD Annual Conference: Sustainable long-term dam infrastructure development and management, Benoni, South Africa, 6-8 November.
• Bosman A, Basson GR, Bosman DE (2016). Hydraulic model study of the blowback behaviour of the bottom outlet of the Berg River Dam, South Africa. Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 58(1), 43-52.

Teaching

Hydraulic Structures 424 and Hydraulics 354

River hydraulics, rock scour, design of large hydraulic structures

Prof Kobus du Plessis

Water resources, flood hydrology, water governance

Email: jadup@sun.ac.za

Phone: 021 808 4358

Office: S3013

Short Bio

Prof JA du Plessis has more than 33 years of experience in the field of water engineering, which includes 16 years in industry. His industry work experience includes working for the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Department of Agricultural, the City of Cape Town and as Director of Water Supply for the West Coast District Municipality, where he gained experience with water related institutional arrangements and specifically the Water Act and Water Service Act.
He joins the University of Stellenbosch in 2003 and is presently a Professor in Hydrology and Environmental Engineering in the Civil Engineering Department. He is a former Head of the Department of Civil Engineering.

Education/Qualifications

BEng (Civil Engineering), M Eng (Risk management of water resources) and PhD (Integrated water demand management in local governance).

Honours, Awards, Memberships

Professional registered engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.
Fellow Member of the SA Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE).
Fellow Member of the Institute of Municipal Engineers of Southern Africa (IMESA).
Council and EXCO member of IMESA.
Member of the Education and Training panel for SAICE.
Member on the Editorial Panel of the SAICE Journal.
Member of the International Association for Water, Environment, Energy and Society.
NRF Level C2

Research Interests

Prof Du Plessis specialised in water resource evaluations, flood hydrology and he provide institution support to various local authorities. He has a special interest in the modelling of conjunctive water use (surface / groundwater/ desalination and re-use) on a daily time step as well as the various flood related topics, including the use of Radar data and regional maximum floods.

Selected Publications

Visit my Google Profile (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=A6ROXt0AAAAJ) for a complete list of my publications

Teaching

Water Resources, Flood Hydrology and Environmental Engineering

Water resources, flood hydrology, water governance

Mr Tanduxolo Nguza

SEWERS, SEWER SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT, BULK WATER PIPELINES

Email: tnguza@sun.ac.za

Office: 3013

Short Bio

Completed my BEng in Civil at the University of Pretoria and my MEng (Water) at Stellenbsoch University. Engineering consulting experience in municipal infrastructure and SA Army Engineering experience in Bailey Bridge building, water purification and sewer network maintenance.

Education/Qualifications

MEng
BEng

Professional Experience

4 years

Research Interests

Sewer sediment management and Sewer Information Management Systems

Teaching

Hydraulics 324

SEWERS, SEWER SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT, BULK WATER PIPELINES

Research Topics

Specific research topics for the upcoming year are available below but feel free to contact our researchers directly as well.

Water and Environmental Engineering Research Topics 2025

Water and Environmental Engineering

Civil Enginnering