The involvement of IWA’s Specialist Group on Sustainability in the Water Sector on the issue of Women in Water dates back to IWA’s 2018 World Water Congress & Exhibition in Tokyo, when our SG co-hosted a workshop that addressed workforce issues such as staff training and retention.  After the workshop, two young female attendees told me that they appreciated the good ideas they had heard, but that since they were women and worked for men who were not interested in hearing the opinions of women, they probably would not be able to put the information they had learned in the workshop to effective use.  

This story may seem to support the idea that the issue of women in the water sector should be primarily viewed through an equity lens.  But our Specialist Group addresses the topic more broadly.  Given the massive challenges confronting the water industry today, incomplete use and development of the skills and talents are not only unfair to women, but a disservice to everyone – male co-workers who do not get the benefit of women’s knowledge and skills, communities and businesses the water industry should serve, and the ecosystems that we all should protect.  Building on over 30 years of experience as a Manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission which provides water, wastewater, and power services to the San Francisco Bay Area, I know that our work is complicated and requires all our contributions.  Experience has also taught me that men as well as women have questions about how we can work together more effectively.  

The webinars and workshop our Specialist Group has provided on Women in Water throughout the years (an international webinar on Women’s Day in 2021, a webinar focused on Spanish speakers on Women’s Day in 2022, and a workshop at the IWA World Water Congress in Copenhagen in 2022), have focused on how we can work together to help women optimise their contributions to the water industry.  

 Our Specialist Group has worked collaboratively with the African Water Association (AfWA) on many issues, including the role of utilities in Africa in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, the digital worker, and women in water.  On Women’s Day this year, AfWA and IWA will co-host a webinar to empower women in water with enriching perspectives and experiences from the African region.  

Speakers include:  

Maha Salah Khalla, GIZ Nile Delta Water Management Programme, Egypt

Chataigne Djuma, IWA YWP Steering Committee, Congo

Geraldine Mpoum,a Logmo, CAMWATER, Cameroon

Maggie Momba, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa

Leunita Sumba, WIWAS, Kenya

Topics discussed will include:  

• Advancing in the water industry;  
• Providing and receiving mentoring;  
• Effective responses to disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour; 
• Multiple life/work responsibilities; 
• Age discrimination; and 
• Self-confidence and self-presentation.   

 Our goal is to help both men and women develop a greater understanding of the challenges they face in the water sector, so that they can work better together and untap their full potential.  

In our webinars we speak plainly and clearly about issues that affect all of us in the water industry, so we hope you will join us for our webinar on Women in Water, which will be held at 15:00 GMT on 8 March 2023. You can register to attend the webinar free of charge, and let us know about the questions and topics that are of most interest to you.

Utilities must build resilience to counter climate change

Climate change is already an established reality in Africa. Prolonged droughts, unprecedented floods, depleted rain forests, and ocean acidification are regional climate phenomena that threaten resources, livelihoods, and human wellbeing. The State of the Climate in Africa 2019 report confirms that these events are having catastrophic impacts on human life and the environment.

Climate impacts on water utilities

Climatic events can only exacerbate the challenges faced by water utilities. Even without climate change, water utilities face operational challenges in the delivery of sustainable services. Some of these include growing urban population, repairing or replacing ageing infrastructure, and increased competition for limited water resources.

Climate Resilient Water Safety Planning

Water utilities must build resilience as an integral part of water management in order to achieve universal access to clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and confront climate related challenges. Water Safety Plans (WSP) are a globally recognised planning approach. They involve undertaking a proactive and comprehensive risk assessment and risk management process to ensure the safety and security of drinking-water supplies. In the WSP approach, risks are identified, prioritized, and managed before problems occur. This makes them a valuable asset in addressing the impacts of climate change.

IWA, with support from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), worked with African water utilities from 2018 – 2020 on a project to develop and implement climate resilient Water Safety Plans.  Utility staff and stakeholders were supported through activities such as WSP training, WSP development and implementation courses, and via several workshops.

Jude Nartey from Ghana Water said: “The information gathered during this project helps me to understand, familiarize myself when analyzing, and assess the presence of natural hazards and their effect on our water treatment plants, based on the vulnerability associated with such phenomena.”

A key tool in the Flood and Drought Portal was the Water Safety Planning application which helps utilities to document their WSP, while also taking into account climate impacts. Incorporating climate impacts is a necessary step as Gane Kane from SEN’EAU remarks: “Taking the issue of climate into account in the framework of the WSP has opened up a large possibility for us to anticipate how climatic events are likely to influence its implementation.”

Selected staff from each country took part in a “Training of Trainers” which enhanced the knowledge, skills, and expertise of participants to become WSP ambassadors.

Manuel Tettey, from Ghana Water, said: “Training received during the project has increased my overall awareness of the need to consider climate related issues in our WSP as a utility and it has also affected my understanding on the impact of climate change on the operations of water production systems. I am well placed to better explain the benefits of WSP to other colleagues who did not have the chance to be part of this project”. While Bombiri Isai, from ONEA, added: “As a result of this training, we realized how WSPs are essential to guarantee the quality of the water in a sustainable way, and therefore, the health of consumers. We have strengthened our capacity to put in place a WSP.”  

Another lesson learned was the importance of engaging with stakeholders, such as local government, who play a key role in the catchment. For example, Yaw Boateng, from the Water Resources Commission in Ghana, stated: “As an Assistant Basin Officer, the project has changed my understanding of climate resilient WSP and has also improved my relationship with other stakeholders within the catchment.”

Finally, it must be noted that the commitment, involvement, and support of key decision makers are necessary for an effective implementation of WSP. Doing so helps to ensure that materials, people, and logistical resources can be made available when needed – thereby leading to improved outcomes.

For more information visit the project page  and the Water Safety Portal.

In recent times, the water and sanitation sector has been progressing at varying speeds in different parts of the world.  Despite the progress made, as water and sanitation professionals and leaders, we cannot be complacent. We need to further mobilise action focused on the sometimes inconvenient truths that 1.8 billion people do not have access to potable water, and 2.8 billion people do not have access to sanitation services.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has served to sharply bring into focus the notion that nobody should be left behind in terms of water and sanitation services.  Although COVID-19 is not a water borne disease, the need for clean potable water and safe sanitation services to facilitate hygienic practices cannot be overstated.

In fact, COVID-19 has made us realise that the future cannot and should not be similar to the past, and that adopting historic practices and strategies bring no assurance of future success. Furthermore, the reality of climate change and its impact on water services delivery presents an additional challenge which needs to be addressed simultaneously.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to review the somewhat slow rate of progress towards achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We need to reformulate bold and innovative strategies to radically accelerate progress by removing impediments and adopting new technologies, practices and approaches.

While the adoption of new technologies is important and long overdue, the political environment is critical and must also be addressed by water leaders and professionals. Lack of political will, poor governance, leadership and unethical practices all require serious attention if we are to make meaningful progress on the SDGs.  These challenges necessitate active participation and engagement from water professionals of all types, such as utility leaders, municipal leaders, academics, practitioners, political leaders, development banks, donor agencies etc.

Therefore, my vision for the future is rapid and meaningful progress on overcoming these inconvenient truths, ultimately bringing about universal access to water and sanitation.  The IWA and water professionals globally should be excited by this challenge. Indeed, the IWA and its partners are ideally positioned to connect global experts to focus on alleviating such challenges.

Recently I became a Distinguished Fellow of IWA, which has both a highly symbolic and practical meaning for the South African water industry, Rand Water and myself. This recognition demonstrates that experts from South Africa, and the African continent in general, are more than capable and should be supported to engage and lead at a local, continental and global level.

My journey with the IWA has been exciting, challenging and stimulating. I have felt extremely grateful for the opportunity and privileged to work with many outstanding leaders and to engage openly and robustly about improving our sector.  I now intend to use my position further to speak out and engage on the challenges I have described above.

Ultimately, the efforts of water professionals should be channelled to simultaneously achieve excellence and relevance for our sector, in order to make the world a better place. After all, water is life, and sanitation is dignity.

Firstly, I wanted to wish you a very happy festive season and all the best for the New Year.

We are truly grateful to all our members for their hard work, dedication, and continued support – it’s your efforts that make IWA so great. So, from the IWA secretariat team to our members – you have our highest gratitude and appreciation.

The past year has been a challenging one for many of us due to the pandemic. One consequence of these difficult circumstances has been the postponement of a number of IWA events.

Unfortunately, we have now had to take the difficult decision to further postpone our May 2021 World Water Congress & Exhibition (WWCE). This will now be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2022.

We hope that making this decision now about the WWCE gives participants, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers a greater degree of certainty, and helps to enable your attendance in 2022. More details can be found on the congress website at www.worldwatercongress.org.

2020 has though undoubtedly highlighted the significance of the water sector, particularly in terms of its role in hygiene, sanitation, and environmental sustainability. Reflecting our strengths across this spectrum, we created the IWA COVID-19 Task Force, which has contributed to sector collaboration, the sharing of knowledge, and the provision of guidance and best practice.

The year also represented the 20^th anniversary of the creation of the IWA, following the merger of the International Water Supply Association (founded 1947) and the International Association for Water Pollution Research (founded 1965).

Despite the difficult year, IWA published and supported a range of reports, on topics from digitalising the water sector to using more nature-based solutions in our efforts to reduce diffuse pollution. We have also established an Innovators Platform and a Climate Smart Utilities community of practice.

Furthermore, we significantly upscaled our digital presence, notably holding an array of webinars and podcasts. We plan to build on this activity next year with a significant virtual congress in Q2 of 2021, with more details to follow shortly.

I will close by saying again, a big thank you for all your efforts and support to IWA. As always, the IWA secretariat is at your service. I hope you have a safe and peaceful break for the holidays and wish you all the best for 2021.

IWA’s upcoming World Water Congress & Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been moved forward to September 2022.

The decision to postpone was taken due to the ongoing pandemic, and general uncertainty around live events and international travel.

All existing tickets will remain valid, but please do contact the team should you have any queries about this.

IWA also plans to hold a significant virtual congress in Q2 of 2021, with more details to follow shortly.

For more details on the WWCE in Copenhagen, please visit https://worldwatercongress.org/

The Covid-19 pandemic we have faced this year has brought new challenges to the water sector. There is an even greater need to improve water quality and safety, with existing treatment processes now under the microscope. Positively, many scientists and engineers – including myself – are working to find solutions.

My main research specialty is membrane-based water reclamation technologies. I am strongly of the belief that wastewater treatment and reclamation is vital if we are to work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. My research into this topic – which includes process optimization and practical application of technologies – has been adopted by a number of treatment and reclamation plants in China.

There is now a much greater focus within China on environmental protection, and indeed increased global attention on our endeavours. For instance, China also recently committed to become net zero carbon by 2060. These developments bring with them opportunities to share knowledge, and to collaborate with international partners on best practice – which is where IWA comes in.

My involvement with IWA began back in 2000, when I was invited to join the programme committee of an IWA regional conference. I then gradually began to participate in more IWA activities and as a result grew to be a better scientist with broader horizons and a stronger professional network. Eight years ago, I was honoured to be nominated as an IWA Fellow. And in 2020 I was delighted to be nominated as an IWA Distinguished Fellow.

IWA membership has allowed me to actively participate in specialist groups and events directly relevant to my research. Indeed, I have gone further and organised two events. Back in 2009, I coordinated the IWA-MTC for Water and Wastewater Treatment. While 2016 I managed the IWA-RMTC to encourage dialogue and information sharing between China and other countries.

If we are to tackle the biggest issues facing our sector, then engagement and knowledge sharing is critical to our success. I look forward to collaborating with as many of you as possible through IWA’s programmes, events and other opportunities.

Science and engineering help us understand the world and change it for the better. For example, advancements in drinking water, from germ theory and handwashing to filtration and chlorine disinfection, have substantially reduced deaths and disease, and improved public health. The results are self-evident for many of us at our kitchen taps.

However, despite growing public trust in scientists, there also appears to be more scientific misinformation and even attacks on legitimate expertise. Informed criticisms, no matter their origin, are valuable (think peer review, although they can be of poor quality), but attacks on scientific matters without evidence usually prove counterproductive. Here, I share my experiences with the latter kind, specifically after publishing research in an IWA journal.

I do this for two reasons: a) throw light on the common yet mostly unspoken phenomena of baseless attacks on science, and b) open a conversation to help others, especially young professionals and untenured faculty, who may have suffered similar attacks, or are self-censoring their high risk or potentially unpopular scientific findings for fear of retaliation or public shaming by Twitter mobs.

With collaborators Drs. Marc Edwards and Min Tang, I recently published two peer-reviewed articles quantifying waterborne lead exposure in Flint, Michigan during the city’s water crisis using wastewater-based epidemiology. Specifically, we used datasets of lead in sewage sludge (or, biosolids), drinking water and children’s blood to estimate water lead trends over the past decade.

Two major findings from this work, first reported in the IWA journal Water Research in May 2019, were: a) lead in water and in children’s blood in Flint peaked only for a few months immediately after the city switched to the Flint River water in April 2014 and suspended corrosion control treatment but dropped thereafter despite staying worrisome, and b) a lead exposure event, much worse than seen during the entire crisis, occurred in mid-2011.

Having helped uncover the Flint Water Crisis with residents as part of the Virginia Tech research team in August 2015, this was a valuable addition to our and society’s knowledge base. To allow everyone, especially Flint residents, full access to the science, we made these papers open access. Two months ago, I shared these findings with a broader audience in a scientific opinion article with Dr. Edwards writing “lead levels in Flint were not as bad as first feared” in numerous speculations made in 2015 that lead levels got progressively worse over the crisis’ 18 months.

With many pursuing wastewater-based epidemiology to track the spread of the novel coronavirus, our article stimulated expected excitement and engagement with water/wastewater experts. However, it also started a small storm.

A journalist shared their anger on Twitter, and emphasized, while they were “not qualified” to assess the scientific merits of our work, my sharing of the findings was not sensitive. Repeated emails politely asking which specific lines from our article were “insensitive” have gone unanswered. An activist expressed how reporting this data was a “betrayal to the long suffering residents of Flint.” A lawyer made an understandable feces quip about wastewater data.

However, it was responses from academics that gave me pause. A mechanical engineering professor told a newspaper that our findings, whatever they may be because she had actually not read our lead papers, did not “eliminate the fact that there was high exposure.” A geography professor opined because we did not live in Flint or drink the water, we should keep quiet. By that logic, most research done since the beginning of time should not have been conducted or shared, including our original testing of Flint’s water that exposed the crisis. A social science professor pushed the theory that the timing of my article, which was completed before but came out weeks after news leaked of a historic $600 million settlement for Flint children, was suspect.

What if my article had released before the news had broken? The professor also equated our supporting Flint pediatricians’ call to not label all Flint children “lead poisoned” based on actual water and blood lead data, to attempts made to rewrite the gruesome killing of Mr. George Floyd. I sent a polite email asking for clarifications, but never heard back. The tweetstorm got significant traction with many US professors working in the water space, who shared these tweets with other academics without fact-checking. How are such actions different from the spreading of fake news on Facebook?

I highlight these examples to show how easily scientific work can be mischaracterized online. The lack of fact-checking and clickbait nature of social media allow falsehoods and outrage to fly in our “misinformation age.” The apparent rush to embrace subjectivity and share what one feels about a study while disregarding the thousands of data points on which that work stands is worrying. While I personally found many of these comments amusing, the narcissism and lack of due diligence on display by academics who, for example, comment without reading studies or conflate recommending accurate labels based on data to a horrific murder, strikes me as dangerous, and possibly not that uncommon. Why then should the public trust academia?

In an era of populism, hyperpolarization, and even reckless world leaders, scientific experts are still highly trusted. The general public looks to academics for knowledge that is, above all, evidence-based. Science is a matter of seeking the truth, not consensus on Twitter or through open letters. We should not fall in love with our pet scientific theories and political beliefs. In fact, we should actively try to disprove them. The answer to evidence is more compelling evidence, not conspiratorially thinking out loud on Twitter.

We all have behavioral and knowledge blind spots. Academics should do better. I am neither arguing against healthy scientific debate, nor pushing for suppressing speech, only that we exercise care when sharing information online. The social media platforms are rage machines. Let’s not knowingly make things worse.

Ah, to be young and carefree! The youth are full of creative energy and dynamic ambition. Being young is a time for endless possibilities. But it is also a time of creeping self-doubt and frustration — a sense that one is not making any difference in the face of seemingly insurmountable and intractable problems around us. To a young professional whose direction is yet to make sense, the questions can be daunting: What am I doing here? Do I really have something to contribute? Am I on the right path?

It matters that we help young water professionals confront these difficult questions if we are to develop their leadership potential. Many of us go through the same tumultuous period — the infamous quarter-life crisis — and in my case, it almost made me quit the water sector. The combined weight of expectations made me feel inadequate: there was the expectation of superiors to turn in a perfect output despite my having little to no experience, or the expectation to get ahead in the competitive career race with friends. There was also that nagging feeling that I should be doing something more to help alleviate society’s ills. It made me feel irrelevant that at every end of my 9 to 5, I was barely moving the needle in changing an industry that seemed so rigid, inflexible, and disjointed. I felt frustrated, angry, out of place, and voiceless.

My turning point came when, together with five friends, I co-founded the Philippine Young Water Professionals (PYWP) in 2016. We helped each other come to terms with our common frustrations and unique incapacities. We shared a burning passion to do more and be more; we quickly realized that we could only do so together. Armed with nothing but the confidence that we had each other’s backs, we approached the IWA and the Philippine Water Works Association with a vision for change. PYWP has a clear social agenda for change and we intend to bring other youth leaders onboard.

Three years later I would listen with keen attention to Lisa Dreier, Managing Director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, who delivered a lecture about Systems Leadership. As Lisa defined Systems Leadership, I was struck at how closely it described our journey in setting up PYPW, as well as my personal journey of finding my voice in the water sector.

Systems Leadership gave me the language and structure to draw the link from systems thinking — that is, understanding the big picture — to systemic change. Systems Leadership is “a set of skills and capacities that individuals and organizations can use to catalyze, enable, and support systems-level change.”[1] Systems Leaders are those who apply their knowledge of complex systems (or in the case of water, a complex system of systems) to generate and sustain progressive transformation.

There are many “aha!” moments that can trigger one’s journey towards Systems Leadership. One of them is realizing that no one is in control. When no one individual or entity has the singular power to fix a complex problem, it can be the source of disillusionment and hopelessness — the kind of frustration that would weigh heavily on young minds. Another “aha!” moment is realizing that it is up to us to jumpstart and drive change. The tagline that I coined for PYWP reflects this strong sense of duty: “When the future of water is in your hands, you act decisively to make every drop count.” My social media hashtag — #TheOnusIsOnUs — is a similar reminder that we are ultimately responsible not as individuals, but as a collective.

When we developed the vision-mission for PYWP, we expressly acknowledged that no one entity could fully govern water. We could only connect those who are trying to solve water problems by helping them see the big picture of their interconnected efforts. Thus we broadened our messaging and advocacy beyond water utilities, which are the usual “water sector” audience in the Philippines. Today, our members come from all kinds of traditionally non-water (or not strictly water) backgrounds such as those working in biodiversity or the food industry. As I would playfully say, PYWP (which is pronounced as “pipe”) is the pipe that connects disparate actors to solve shared water problems. PYWP’s agenda is always “water-plus” — water plus poverty, water plus health, water plus disaster risk, etc. — because water is the connector and conduit of development.

Another important realization about systems change is that we should be prepared to be in it for the long haul. Youth comes with the impatience of wanting to see things change overnight, but that’s not possible for wicked, systemic problems such as climate change, water scarcity, or transitioning to the circular economy. The challenge for PYWP and other youth organizations is to sustain the momentum and excitement with which we carry out our missions. Systems Leaders monitor and celebrate incremental progress, no matter how small they might seem in the greater scheme of things.

A long-term perspective also helps Systems Leaders be adaptive and resilient. Solutions that do not work today may have a chance in a few years. The question is: will you still be involved and engaged in solving water problems to see those solutions bear fruit? I certainly am determined to do so. We must keep growing to become the future leaders that the world deserves.

In leading PYWP and learning about Systems Leadership, I have come to realize that it is possible for the young to lead the young. Yes, we do need guidance, training, and mentorship (please do not hold back on these!) but equally important is that we need to belong to a community with other young people who understand the pressures of being young, inadequate, and imperfect. In designing PYWP’s storytelling session called “Kwentubig: Stories About Water”, I made it a point to help our young speakers surface their personal stories to help others realize that we share not only the same vision, but also similar career challenges and setbacks.

The world’s wicked, systemic problems will continue to escalate, and the careers that we have chosen in the water sector will prove to be tough, unforgiving, and often thankless. It is important to have the support of other young people who can help keep our chin up when we are just about ready to drop out.

After her lecture, I connected with Lisa to share how the concepts of Systems Leadership resonated with our PYWP journey. That was how PYWP got featured as an example of the power of individuals in a complex system in a paper by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative entitled “Systems Leadership for Sustainable Development: Strategies for Achieving Systemic Change,” published in September 2019.

I was in tears seeing PYWP’s story in that Harvard paper. We were just six friends who felt the weight of so much pressure, frustration, and self-doubt asking each other: What are we doing here? Do we really have something to contribute? Are we on the right path? Now I know that as long as I am moving forward with my water sector allies — my fellow Systems Leaders — we’ll find the answers reflected in each other’s successes and struggles.

——

[1] Dreir, Nabarro, Nelson, “Systems Leadership for Sustainable Development: Strategies for Achieving Systemic Change,” 2020. Available here