My name is Niels Schreven, I am 20 years old, I come from Reuten in Twente and I study environmental science at the HAS in Den Bosch. When I had to decide three years ago where I wanted to go, there were two options for studying environmental science: Van Hall Larenstein in Leeuwarden and the HAS in Den Bosch. The city of Den Bosch appealed to me more so that is why it has become the HAS, but I am still in Leeuwarden for my internship.
In 2017, a Summer School was organized by the University of Twente at WaterCampus Leeuwarden. Because my curiosity about the subject of water technology had already been stimulated before, I decided to participate. In this way I got to know Wetsus, among other things, and I knew that Leeuwarden is “the place to be” when it comes to water technology. An internship at the CEW was quickly found last summer. I am now in the third year of the course and in that year we have to do a half year internship at a company in the Netherlands and half a year abroad.
My assignment is about the desalination of waste water from greenhouse growers. In addition to crop protection agents, this water also contains high concentrations of salts. To be able to reuse the water, they have to be removed. Water Future has developed a desalination system for the treatment of water without the valuable plant protection products (GBM) being destroyed or discharged into the water. Water Future has asked the CEW to test the purification efficiency of the system according to the measurement protocol as drawn up by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment in collaboration with the Sustainable Greenhouse Horticulture Platform.
What I like about my internship is the alternation between working in the lab and computer work. That way I can also be practical. Writing costs me a lot of energy, but luckily I get perfect support from CEW. I have since learned that in reality a project often runs very differently than at school. Ultimately, everything here revolves around the wishes of the customer.
In connection with this internship I am temporarily staying with acquaintances in Heerenveen. From “in rooms” temporarily back to a family situation, so get used to it again. I think Leeuwarden is a beautiful city that is reasonably comparable in size to Den Bosch. By the way, I don’t hear the Frisian language much here, it seems that more English is spoken in Leeuwarden. But yes, I am also on the very international Water Campus.
I do not yet know exactly what I will do next, because I have not yet found an internship. What is certain is that it will be an internship abroad, because unfortunately the HAS does not count Friesland as a foreign country, ha ha. I applied for the internship place in South Africa, “Bridging the water”, but it remains to be seen whether I will be selected.
If, like me, you find water technology an interesting subject, then I definitely recommend an internship at CEW. You really have input in the project that you do. Conversations I have with my supervisor feel more like talking to a colleague and that is quite unique!
