Dr Gert Christiaan Cloete

Biography

In the late 1980’s, Gert earned a Diploma and Higher Diploma in Civil Engineering at the Cape Technikon. He worked for nearly 12 years as a field technician in hydrometry and open channel hydraulics. In 1997 he enrolled at the university of Stellenbosch and completed his Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 2000. He continued studying part time and completed his master’s degree in civil engineering in 2004. He received awards for best final year thesis in 2000 and for the best water engineering thesis in 2004. After graduating in 2000, he worked in the construction industry, the consulting industry, at NamWater and at the City of Windhoek municipality. In 2015 he graduated with a PhD in dam safety and risk. Since 2019 he has been working as a lecturer at NUST. In 2020 he was appointed head of department in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Brief Career Summary

• 2019+ Lecturer, Civil & Environmental Engineering, NUST, Namibia
• 2018+ ADHOC Civil Engineering, Consulting - Sole Proprietor, Namibia
• 2014-2018 Principal Engineer, Knight Piesold Consulting, Windhoek, Namibia
• 2011-2013 Chief Engineer, Engineering Services, City of Windhoek, Namibia
• 2008-2011 Manager, Civil Engineering, NamWater, Windhoek, Namibia
• 2004-2008 Senior Engineer, Windhoek Consulting Engineers, Namibia
• 2002-2003 Construction Engineer, Injaka Dam RWPS, DWAF, Mpumalanga, South Africa
• 2001-2001 Engineer, Water Catchment Management, DWAF, South Africa
• 1989-2000 Senior Technician, Hydrometry, DWAF, South Africa

Professional Affiliations 

• Eng Council of Namibia (ECN), Professional Engineer (PE 25008)
• Engineering Professions Association (EPA), council member
• South African Commission on Large Dams (SANCOLD), member

Research Focus Areas

• Hydraulics, single point flow measurements
• Open channel flow and velocity profiles
• Palaeoflood Hydrology

Courses Currently Teaching

Undergraduate

• Water Reticulation Design Management (I and II)
• Solid Waste Management (I and II)

Postgraduate

• Hydraulic Structures

Research supervisor

• Four Masters degree students
• Two PhD students

Community Development Activities

• Council member of the Engineering Professions Association
• Council member of the Ministerial Water Advisory Council (2017 to 2021)
• Member of the Policy Unit for the Landless Peoples Movement

Selected Publications 

Technical Reports/Books

• C. Meyer, A. Rooseboom, M.J. Retief, G.C. Cloete (2002). Discharge Measurements in Terms of Pressure Differences at Bridge Piers. Water Research Commission; WRC Report No. 980/3/00.
• Bosman, E., Basson, G., Basson, J., Cloete, G., Kriel, H., Retief, J.V., Tente, T. (2009). Revision of the SANCOLD interim guidelines on freeboard for dams, Volume 1. Water Research Commission, WRC Report No. K5/1759/1.
• Bosman, E., Basson, G., Basson, J., Cloete, G., Kriel, H., Retief, J.V., Tente, T., Visser, C. (2011). Guidelines on freeboard for dams, Volume 1. Water Research Commission, WRC Report No. 1759/1/11. ISBN 978-1-4312-0150-1
• Atlas of Namibia Team, 2022, Atlas of Namibia: its land, water and life, Namibia Nature Foundation, Windhoek.

Peer-reviewed articles

• G. C. Cloete (2004). River Discharges Derived from Single Velocity Measurements (Masters Degree Dissertation). Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering, Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Hattingh L; Cloete G; Mostert A (2011). Dam Maintenance and Rehabilitation II, Eds. R.R. Garcia et.al., Pages 383-389. ISBN 978-0-415-61648-5
•  Grodek, T., Bennito, G., Botero, B., Jacoby, Y., Porat, N., Haviv, I., Cloete, G.C., Enzel, Y. (2012). The last millennium floods in the hyperarid Kuiseb River basin, Namib Desert. WILEY, Journal of Quaternary Science. ISSN 0267-8179. DOI: 10.1002/jqs.2618
• Greenbaum, N., Schwartz, U., Benito, G., Porat, N., Cloete, G.C., Enzel, Y. (2014) Paleohydrology of extraordinary floods along the Swakop River at the margin of the Namib Desert and their paleoclimate. Journal of Quaternary Science. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.08.021
• Cloete, G.C. Basson, G.R., Sinske, S.A. (2014). Revision of Regional Maximum Flood (RMF) estimation in Namibia. ISSN 1816-7950. Water SA Vol. 40 No. 3 July 2014
• Cloete, G.C. (2015). Risk based dam safety in Namibia: a quantitative approach (Doctoral Degree Thesis). Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering, South Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96913
• Cloete, G.C., Retief, J.V., Barnardo-Viljoen, C.(2016). A rational quantitative optimal approach to dam safety risk reduction. Taylor and Francis, Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, DOI: 10.1080/10286608.2016.1138942
• Cloete,G.C., Benito, G., Grodek T., Porat N., Enzel Y., (2018). Analyses of the magnitude and frequency of a 400-year flood record in the Fish River Basin, Namibia. Elsevier, Volume 320, 1 November 2018, Pages 1-17. doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018

Conference presentations & invited talks

Conference Presentations (Published in Proceedings)

• Cloete, G.C. (2009) A case study on dam safety in Namibia. Proceedings of the conference, Question 91: Dam safety management, Theme 3 – Making Decision in Dam Safety - Pages 84-86. ICOLD Conference, Brasilia, Brazil, 2009.
• Cloete, G., Retief, J.V. (2009). Workshop on the revision of the SANCOLD interim guidelines on freeboard for dams. Venue: STIAS, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
• Hattingh, L.; Cloete, G.; Muir, C.; Mostert, A. (2010) The impact of hydrology on the adequacy of existing dams to safety standards - the Namibian experience. Conference on Dam Maintenance and Rehabilitation, 23-25 November 2010,  Zaragoza, Spain
• Hattingh, L; Cloete G; Mostert A (2011) Dam Maintenance and Rehabilitation II - Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Dam Maintenance and Rehabilitation (2011), 383-389
• Cloete, G.C., Basson, G.R., Sinske, S.A. (2014) Revision of Regional Maximum Flood (RMF) estimation in Namibia. SANCOLD Annual Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Cloete, G.C., Retief, J.V., Viljoen, C. (2017). Applying the Rational Quantitative Optimal risk approach to optimize rehabilitation for a portfolio of dams. Proceedings of the conference, ICOLD Africa 2017, Hydropower and Dams, Morocco.
• Cloete, G.C.; Shaanika, S. (2019) Asphalt resealing of the 35m-high Von Bach dam. Africa 2019 conference, Hydropower and Dams, Windhoek, Namibia.

Invited Lectures

• Water Research Commission review panel presentation. Presentation on Bridge-pier flow measurement. Stellenbosch University, South Africa. December 2000.
• Design of Hydraulic Structures (2009) Short Course, Stellenbosch. Presentation on the Revision of the 1990 SANCOLD: Interim Guidelines on Freeboard for Dams: Volume I, Presentation on Literature Review and Case Studies. Stellenbosch, South Africa. 9-12 March 2009.
• CHINCOLD Annual Meeting: 7th International Symposium on RCC Dams. Round table meeting on sustainable development of dams and hydropower. Presentation on “Namibia: Dams and Hydropower development status and future outlook”. Chengdu City, China. 24-28 September 2015.
• Design of Hydraulic Structures (2015) Short Course, Marlenique Estate, Paarl. Presentation on the Application of the Rational Quantitative Optimal Approach to Risk Based Dam Safety. Paarl, South Africa. 28 September to 1 October 2015.
• Water and Environmental Forum, Knight Piesold Consulting. Presentation on Utilising palaeoflood hydrology to determine recent and ancient flood events in Namibia: Flood peaks in ephemeral rivers. Mabula Lodge, Mpumalanga. South Africa. 17-19 November 2016.

Conference/Seminar Organizing

• Steering Committee member, SANS 10160:2011 Induction Seminar on the South African Loading Code, by Stellenbosch University. Kalahari Sands Hotel, Windhoek, Namibia. 4 October 2012.
• Steering Committee member and Chairman, Hydropower & Dams International Conference, Africa 2019, Windhoek, Namibia 2-4 April 2019.
• Steering Committee member and Co-chairman, Hydropower & Dams International Conference, Oporto, Portugal, 14-16 October 2019.

Academic Review

• External examiner for a Stellenbosch University masters degree thesis in water engineering, 2013.
• External examiner for a Stellenbosch University masters degree thesis in water engineering, 2019.
• External examiner for a Stellenbosch University masters degree thesis in water engineering, 2021.

Research Gate:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gert_Cloete3

Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/profiles/gert-cloete3