Making a Difference in Water Quality: Ntiea Letsapo, Department of Water Affairs, Lesotho

Ntiea Letsapo first came to GEMS/Water CDC in 2017, when he was working as an assistant hydrobiologist with the Water Rights Division, part of the Lesotho Department of Water Affairs, a state agency tasked with assessing and managing national water resources (more information here: https://www.water.org.ls/dwa/). After years of hard work and dedication, he earned his MSc at University College Cork in 2021, under the aegis of GEMS/Water CDC, which provided both financial and academic support for Ntiea and several of his colleagues. Ntiea has since been promoted to Senior Engineer Water Resources, and he is now responsible for the assessment, evaluation, and management of national water resources in wetlands, rivers and reservoirs.

Fish Kills and Freshwater Monitoring: Checking in with GEMS Alum Nthati Toae, Lesotho Department of Water Affairs

Our mission here at GEMS/Water CDC is to increase human capacity to monitor water quality, and ultimately to advocate for and improve the quality of water around the world. To that end, we are delighted to check in with a GEMS/Water alum, Nthati Toae from Lesotho. Having earned an MSc in Freshwater Quality Monitoring, Ms. Toae works for the Lesotho Department of Water Affairs.

This month features Caitlan O'Keeffe from Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

Following UNEP GEMS/Water alumni in their careers and helping maintain an alumni network beyond training at the UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre (CDC) is highly important to us. To that end, and to give everyone a taste of what kind of projects that alumni of the CDC at UCC are working on, we are delighted to feature an update on the work of our MSc graduate Caitlan O'Keeffe. Caitlan is currently with Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources as a Water Quality Manager and is a graduate of the MSc in Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment at UNEP GEMS/Water CDC (class of 2023!).

Read about MSc Freshwater Quality graduate Megan Cox, and her studies and ongoing research on pollution of vital karst aquifers in Barbados.

We are delighted to feature an update on the work of our MSc graduate Jeremiah Asumbere following his graduation. Jeremiah is currently with Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA Ghana), and is a graduate of both the PGDip and MSc in Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment at UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre.  Jeremiah completed his dissertation with the CDC in 2020 (class of 2021!) and his current work focuses on both environmental and public health protection in freshwater bodies in Southwestern Ghana.

This is the fifth special news feature of our MSc students in Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment and their research projects. On this occasion, we invite you to get to know Cordelia Samuel’s project.

This is the fourth special news edition featuring some of our hard-working MSc students and their research projects.

On this occasion, we are delighted to present the research project of Mathews Mulenga.

Our last feature was on water quality research in an important river basin in Sierra Leone. This week we look to groundwater research in Nigeria and Cameroon.

This is the second instalment in our series featuring MSc student projects. Mohamed Juanah is carrying out his research project in Sierra Leone as part of our MSc in Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment.