Ione Loots is a registered Professional Engineer with 12 years of experience specialising in water and stormwater projects. She obtained her BEng (Civil), BEng Honours in Water Resources Engineering, and MEng degrees at the University of Pretoria and is currently enrolled for her PhD in Engineering at the University of KwaZulu Natal. She started her working career at Aurecon as a Design Engineer and later as Assistant Resident Engineer. She is currently employed as Lecturer at the University of Pretoria, where she teaches various undergraduate and postgraduate subjects, conducts research on surface hydrology and micro hydropower applications and is involved in various consulting projects. She has been involved in various local and international civil engineering projects, specialising in the design of civil infrastructure with a specific focus on hydropower installations, stormwater hydraulics and hydrology. The focus of her PhD study is on urban hydrology and specifically urban design flood estimation.