What do we do?

SamSamWater Foundation aims to increase the number of people in developing countries with sustainable and reliable access to water and sanitation.

'SamSam' means 'together'. We work together to reach our goal: safe and reliable water to all! We believe in practical solutions, realised in close collaboration with our partners and beneficiary communities.

If you need advice to realise your water or sanitation project, contact us!

How do we do this?

To improve access to water and sanitation in developing countries:

• We give advice and participate in projects.
• We make information easy to find and accessible for all.
• We develop free web based tools.
• We have an expert network of partners and partner organisations.
• We create awareness of problems and solutions.

During his Masters study hydrogeology, Sander de Haas went to Kenya for a research project. This made him realise he wanted to help people get a safe water supply. Besides his work as Chief Technology Officer at Naga Foundation, Sander gives hydrological and technical advice in several water projects in developing countries. Sander develops free web-based tools to support water and sanitation projects because he believes these tools can make projects in developing countries more successful.

Merel Hoogmoed studied the functioning of sand storage dams in Kenya. This project triggered her interest in finding solutions to water supply issues in developing countries. Merel has been involved in implementing proven rain water harvesting techniques in several African countries, together with local NGO's. Merel believes in solutions found and implemented in close collaboration with beneficiary communities.

Cedrick Gijsbertsen studied the potential to upscale rainwater harvesting through sand storage dams , which had proven to be very successful in Kitui District, to other parts of Kenya. Currently, Cedrick works as a consultant at Wareco Ingenieurs, where he specialises in hydrogeology in urban regions. He is actively involved in setting up knowledge exchange with partners in developing countries. Cedrick believes knowledge on improving water and sanitation access should be easily and freely accessible to everyone.

Lucas Borst carried out several hydrological (research) projects, such as an inventory of fresh water occurrence on the tropical island of Bonaire and functioning of sand storage dams in Kenya. He carried out projects on waterschemes in villages in a.o. Tanzania and Nepal, but also contributed to large scale projects in a.o. Jakarta (National Capital Integrated Coastal Development) en Qatar (Hamad International Airport). Lucas has a broad engineering understanding of hydrogeology, dams and dikes, pipes and pumps. Besides his work for SamSamWater Lucas is a hydrogeologist working for the water supply company of the province of North-Holland (PWN).

As a hydrogeologist at Wareco Ingenieurs. Maarten analyses the functioning of groundwater systems, performes modelling studies, sets up groundwater policy and designs urban drainage systems. Maarten is a speaker and part-time lecturer at different universities in the Netherlands. He believes improving sustainable water resources for the long term goes together with sharing knowledge.

Jasper Jansen did several international hydrological projects during his study, amongst which evaluation of sand storage dams in Kitui District. Jasper currently works as a hydrogeologist at consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV, where he studies the functioning of (ground)water systems and effects on them through modelling.

Arjen Oord is a hydrogeologist, specialised in groundwater related issues. He did groundwater studies assessing long term effects of climate change and groundwater abstraction on (ground)water systems. Furthermore, Arjen studied the usefulness of geophysical exploration methods in hydrological projects to improve the rural water supply in Uganda. Arjen has lived in Harare, Zimbabwe to work on water related projects in southern Africa.

Harry Rolf has over 30 years of experience with waterprojects in developing countries. After working as hydrologist for PWN Water Supply Company North Holland, Harry is now retired but still very active in several (ground)water research projects in Africa.

Michel Groen has extensive experience in hydrogeological and geophysical data collection, field work and analysis. Michel has worked as hydrogeologist and geophysicist at Iwaco, BGR, VU, and for Fugro, Royal Haskoning, Acacia, Sea Spring Water and CSIRO. Michel is lecturer, field work teacher in hydrogeology and applied geophysics and head of the fieldwork and instrumentation department of the Vrije University Amsterdam (VU).

Carolina Sardella is a hydrology student at the VU University of Amsterdam. During her studies she did hydrological research in Peru, Guatemala and Portugal. While doing these projects she developed a strong interest for solving problems resulting from water shortages due to climate change and due to (over)exploitation of surface and ground water for human activities. At the moment Carolina is carrying out a research project to improve the water quality of rainwater harvesting systems in Somalia.

Johannes Keizer works as a distribution engineer at PWN water supply company. A part of his work is making water pipeline network analysis, including the building of network models. Before he started working at PWN, Johannes worked in the field of civil engineering as a planner at a contractor.

Liesbeth Wilschut participated in a project in Kenya to investigate how farmers can improve their landmanagement and agricultural techniques, in order to maximize rainwater efficiency, and decrease erosion and landdegradation. This project made her realize how much there is to gain when it comes to efficient water use. Currently, Liesbeth works as a PhD-student at Utrecht University. Her research topic is spatial distribution of diseases such as bubonic plague. Also because of this, she is very interested in safe drinking water, so that spread of diseases is prevented. For her research she makes use of GIS, remote sensing and geostatistics.

Iris Pit is an ecohydrologist and currently working as a junior researcher and teacher at the Copernicus Institute of the Utrecht University. She has done her Masters in Sustainable Development (track Land use, Environment & Biodiversity) and specialized in hydrology. Experience of hydrological research projects include a field study in the dune area of the Netherlands and two modeling studies in the United States. Her interests lie mainly in modeling ecohydrological processes and the development of water quality.

Truke Smoor is biochemical engineer and has extensive experience in wastewater treatment technology and water stewardship. She worked on diverse water projects in varies countries, from sanitation education in the Philippines, to industrial wastewater treatment in Europe, water risk assessments in India and water footprinting related to sustainable agriculture.