FCT Student wins APDA Engineering Award

Maria Margarida Cardador dos Santos, student of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, won the Engineering Award, of the APDA Awards (Associação Portuguesa de Distribuição e Drenagem de Águas) – Higher Education, with the work “Reutilização de Águas Residuais Urbanas Tratadas”. The student made a case study about the viability of irrigating the Parque da Paz, Almada, with urban waste water from Mutela’s ETAR (Waste Water Treatment Plant), and concluded that the project is viable if taken into consideration the socio-cultural, economical and environmental aspects of the region.

There were four winners of this Awards attributed in the closing ceremony of the commemorations of the Association’s 20th Anniversary.

The initiative aimed to distinguish innovative academic works, related to the theme of water, in the areas of Engineering and Economics and Management.

Luís Figueira de Castro, student of the Instituto Superior Técnico of Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, also won (exaequo) the Engineering Award, with the work “Análise Sócio-Demográfica para a Caracterização de Consumos Domésticos em Sistemas de Distribuição de Água”. This work, integrated in a Ph.D Program, co-financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and coordinated by LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering), focused on identifying the socio-demographic factors that conditionate the domestic water consumption.

The Economics and Management Award and the Grand Winner was given to Adriano Filipe Monteiro Oliveira and João Pedro do Couto Pinto da Rocha, with the project “Recuperação de Energia Hidráulica em Sistemas de Distribuição de Água, conjugando Sistemas Descentralizados de Produção de Electricidade baseados em Energia Hídrica”. The students from the Faculdade de Engenharia of Universidade do Porto reflected on the viability of the investment in turbomachines to be used in water supply systems.