A four-day workshop on Sustainable Seawater Utilisation began yesterday at the Discipline of Engineering’s Projects Lab at Laucala Campus in Suva.
The workshop will cover many important aspects of seawater utilisation including: Introduction to Seawater Air Conditioning, Hydroponic Growth of Vegetables, Seawater Aquaculture, Cold Water Ecosystems for harvesting species that are found in cold countries, Demonstration (and participation) of Hydroponic kits, Ocean Thermal Energy Generation, Cultivation of Marine Plants for Bioenergy and Biofertilizers, Sustainable Development Goals that will be Addressed by this Project, Oceanography, and Scuba Diving under the banner of the ‘Sustainable Seawater Utilisation Academy’.
In his opening address, the Permanent Secretary of Fiji’s Ministry of Education, Meli Nacuva highlighted the significance of the workshop as it would create awareness on Sustainable Seawater Utilisation. It would also cover many practical uses of seawater that will be extracted from the ocean.
The PS also noted that this was the first multi-disciplinary Workshop of this kind being organised at USP.
He encouraged the participants to gain insights from the experienced lecturers during the workshop.
A main aim of the project is to replace traditional air conditioners with a seawater air conditioning system for cooling a large USP building. In addition, the project will provide 15,000 liters of mineral-rich desalinated water every day once completed.
The project team plans to send some of this water to the Southern Lau group, which frequently experiences water shortage. Five different types of vegetables will also be grown hydroponically, including strawberries and tomatoes.
This workshop is the first phase of the project on seawater air conditioning, which has received funding of US$3.8 million from the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
The first day’s presentations are mainly about the Engineering aspects, the presentations on other topics will continue till the end of the Workshop.
The participants consist of Year 13 and university students, staff, science teachers and researchers and multinational agency representatives.
The workshop will conclude on Thursday, 17 April.
