As the global water community prepares to convene in Bangkok, Thailand, on 8-12 December, for IWA’s 2025 Water and Development Congress & Exhibition (WDCE), anticipation is building for what promises to be another landmark event. Organised in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Technology, this year’s Congress will again put the spotlight on the water and sanitation challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries while showcasing the innovation and solutions driving progress. 

Guided by the overarching theme of ‘Water, Sanitation and Innovation – Pathways to Progress and a Resilient Future’, the 2025 edition will feature a robust, multidisciplinary programme. Topics will span critical areas such as improving water and sanitation services, the strategic role of water in urban resilience, strengthening city-basin connections, and accelerating climate adaptation and mitigation through water-related interventions. 

Held towards the close of the year, the timing of the Congress offers a valuable opportunity to reflect on collective progress during 2025, celebrate achievements, and reassess solutions and strategic priorities as we look ahead to the 2030 deadline of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will also be fertile ground for encountering cutting-edge research, emerging technologies and practical approaches tailored to context-specific challenges. 

An extensive programme 

The response to the ‘Call for Submissions’ has been unprecedented. Compared with the previous edition in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2023, overall submission volumes have surged – more than doubling. This outstanding increase signals a growing global momentum around the Congress and the critical role it plays in shaping water and development discourse. With such a high number of submissions, the Bangkok edition is poised to be the most dynamic and impactful yet. 

Access to technical insights  

Submissions of abstracts for technical presentations rose by almost 140% for Bangkok, reaching 734 this time around. This significant surge underscores the growing global engagement and the expanding knowledge base around water and sanitation challenges in low- and middle-income contexts. 

As with the previous edition in Kigali, submissions provide the basis for comprehensive coverage of the core programme themes. ‘Advancing wastewater treatment and sanitation services: Sustainable solutions for all’ and ‘Smart water management, highlighting the integration of technology and data into water systems’ received particularly high submissions, as did ‘Ensuring safe drinking water’, which remains central to public health and the SDGs. 

The other two themes – ‘Enhancing utility management and operations for sustainable growth’ and ‘Strengthening governance and financial systems for long-term development’ – also attracted strong submissions. 

The 2025 programme is structured around 18  

cross-cutting topics distributed across these five themes. Authors were also asked to indicate up to three topics most relevant to their abstract, ranked by priority. 

Our analysis of the first-choice topics gives an insight into the development areas in which authors are currently most keen to share insight. New technologies for water treatment and supply was the most frequently selected topic, reflecting ongoing innovation in this domain, closely followed by data-driven decision-making in water management, and resource recovery and reuse in water and sanitation. 

Other topics that featured strongly included  

low-cost and decentralised water and sanitation solutions, and water quality monitoring and early warning systems. 

This all suggests a dynamic and technologically forward-looking research and practice agenda among water professionals, with strong interest in practical, scalable and resilient solutions. Alongside this, the diversity and volume of submissions also reflect a maturing global dialogue around integrated and sustainable water resource management. 

An evolving focus for workshops 

WDCE 2025 will again feature a strong workshop programme, built around the more than 100 proposals received. While the subject focus of the workshop submissions in 2023 very closely aligned with the pattern of abstract submissions, this time around we have seen a stronger representation in the workshop proposal under the theme ‘Strengthening governance and financial systems for long-term development’. This underlines the importance of the enabling role of governance and finance in delivering sustainable water and sanitation outcomes. There is an enduring priority for technical solutions, but effective governance, sound financing and institutional resilience are vital pathways to progress in the water and sanitation sector. 

As with the abstract submissions, workshop proposals were categorised under 18 cross-cutting topics. 

Topping the categories indicated was ‘Partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaboration in water management’, selected in 20% of workshop proposals. This strong interest highlights the increasing value placed on integrative, cross-sectoral approaches to water governance and implementation, recognising that systemic challenges demand collaborative solutions. 

The topics ‘Innovations in sanitation for underserved communities’ and ‘Data-driven decision-making in water management’ also ranked highly, closely followed by ‘Climate-resilient water and sanitation systems’ and ‘Nature-based solutions for integrated water supply, sanitation and stormwater management’ – a signal of increasing alignment with ecological design principles. 

Looking across the workshop proposals, the prominence of collaboration, innovation and resilience-related topics points to a sector actively aligning itself with the complex demands of sustainable development and climate adaptation. 

A diverse array of contributions 

The submissions for technical presentations and workshops have been received from those working across the sector, including from the academic community and the professional sphere, especially engineers and technical experts, as well as senior decision-makers and institutional leaders. 

This profile reflects a well-balanced blend of academic insight, technical expertise and institutional leadership that should ensure the Congress fosters a dynamic and evidence-informed environment for advancing water and sanitation solutions in low- and middle-income countries. The strong showing from early-career academics also suggests a promising future pipeline of innovators and thought leaders in the sector. 

Given the high level of interest in the Congress, competition for inclusion in the programme is intense. In Bangkok, 28% of abstracts submitted and 29% of workshop proposals are set to find a space on the main oral and workshop technical programme. 

At the same time, we recognise the critical importance of sharing as much of the valuable research and practical insights proposed as possible. With this in mind, to promote inclusivity and broaden dissemination opportunities, we have designed the programme to accommodate a diversity of contributions. Each technical session will feature two poster pitches – concise, three-minute presentations by authors highlighting the essence of their posters. In addition, an engaging and well-curated poster area will provide authors with a valuable platform to visually present their work and engage directly with delegates in meaningful dialogue. 

The Congress programme  

The Congress will officially kick off on the afternoon of Monday 8 December with an inspiring Opening Ceremony, setting the stage for an exciting week ahead. This will be followed by the grand opening of the International Exhibition, where more than 100 global exhibitors will showcase cutting-edge innovations and solutions. Designed as the central hub for networking and exchange, the exhibition floor will then host the Welcome Reception – an ideal setting for delegates to connect in a lively and informal atmosphere. 

From Tuesday 9 to Friday 12 December, the heart of the event unfolds with a rich and dynamic technical programme. Each morning and evening will feature thought-provoking keynote addresses from leading voices in water and sanitation, followed by topical panels that frame the issues of the day. Across 10 parallel streams, over 110 sessions – including technical sessions, hands-on workshops and thematic forums – will offer diverse insights and opportunities for dialogue. 

Complementing the main programme, technical tours will run throughout the week and culminate on Saturday 13 December, offering participants a first-hand look at innovative practices in the field. A highlight of the social calendar, the Gala Dinner will take place on the evening of Thursday 11 December, bringing the community together in celebration. The Congress will officially conclude with a Closing Ceremony on Friday afternoon, marking the end of a week of shared knowledge, collaboration and inspiration. The event promises to be an amazing opportunity to share insights and build your network. We look forward to welcoming you in Bangkok.  

The author: 

Kizito Masinde is IWA’s Director of Global Events and Awards 

More information 

To find out more about the Water and Development Congress and Exhibition, visit: www.waterdevelopmentcongress.org 

2025 Congress technical programme in figures 

Total submissions: 836 

Submission growth: +101% 

Abstract submissions: 734 

Workshop submissions: 102 

Accepted abstracts for oral presentation: 208 

Accepted workshops: 30 

Countries represented in submissions: 72 

Outstanding opportunities to sponsor and exhibit 

The international trade Exhibition in Bangkok will provide an outstanding opportunity to showcase your company or organisation to an influential global audience. 

With more than 100 exhibitors expected, sponsorship provides a way to further elevate your presence through: 

•  Branding of your company 

•  Targeted promotion by IWA to its global network 

•  Business forums to present to a high-level audience 

•  International media exposure and publicity 

•  Participation in structured networking events. 

See website for Exhibition and Sponsor details 

A global event with regional relevance 

WDCE 2025 is being co-organised with the Asian Institute of Technology, underpinning the regional relevance of the event. 

Professor Thammarat Koottatep, Co-Director of the Global Water & Sanitation Centre at AIT, says: “The Development Congress represents a vital platform for advancing solutions to global water challenges, fostering innovation and strengthening regional collaboration focused on the Global South. For Southeast Asia, it offers an unparalleled opportunity to address pressing water issues, sanitation challenges, build resilience, and drive sustainable development in our communities. I am confident that the event will leave a lasting impact by bringing together diverse expertise and actionable ideas.” 

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For more than a century, our sector’s purpose around dealing with wastewater has been clear: protect health and the environment by treating and discharging safely. That mission remains vital – but it also limits our imagination. 

What if wastewater is not primarily something to be neutralised, but is a resource to be mined? Framed this way, treatment becomes the by-product, and the real goal is recovery – of water, energy, carbon and critical materials. 

And once that frame shifts, everything else shifts with it: 

•  What we build – the treatment trains and technologies we choose 

•  How we fund – the business models and partnerships we design 

•  What success looks like – no longer measured by compliance alone, but by its contribution to resilience, resource security, and climate action. 

Framed like this, wastewater is no longer about end-of-pipe infrastructure. It becomes the very starting point of a new industrial ecosystem – platforms for production, the factories and mines of the circular economy.  

My sense of this opportunity is my big takeaway from having had the privilege of attending IWA’s Resource Recovery Cluster Conference in May. Organised by Wetsus in collaboration with Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University & Research in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the event was brimming with ideas, examples and debate. It set out new thinking and shared latest experiences spanning the resource recovery landscape. And, for me, it revealed a powerful theme that could reshape the way we think about wastewater: a shift from bulk, low-value outputs like biogas and biosolids to targeted, high-value resources. 

Learning from early resource recovery 

The sector’s first steps into resource recovery were logical ones. Given the vast and dilute nature of municipal wastewater, it made sense to pursue early recovery pathways that produced bulk resources such as biogas and biosolids, alongside targeted products like struvite. These approaches have delivered real benefits: biogas remains central to many utilities’ energy neutrality strategies, and struvite recovery has reduced maintenance issues by preventing scaling and improving sludge handling. 

Yet while these pathways have been important, they also reveal their limits. Margins are often razor-thin, revenues exposed to volatile energy and fertiliser markets, and adoption justified more by operational convenience than by market demand. In practice, they have delivered real operational value but only modest economic returns. 

In fact, market prices for struvite have fallen well below early 2010 levels and now typically barely offset the cost of reagents, labour and freight. Similarly, while biogas remains central to energy neutrality goals, its financial viability is eroding. In grids with high renewable penetration, periods of zero or even negative electricity prices are becoming common – undermining the value of exported biogas-derived power. 

Take-up of other opportunities based on similar thinking has been somewhat limited. For example, capture of biogenic carbon dioxide from biogas upgrading is in place at fewer than 30 sites globally; effluent heat – a stable, low-grade thermal resource – at only a few hundred locations; production of ammonium sulphate in fewer than five utilities; and cellulose and fibres from screenings, a recoverable feedstock for paper or construction materials, remain largely unexploited. 

Advancing treatment technology options 

This is why so much attention at the Resource Recovery Conference focused on new technological pathways that might overcome these constraints.  

We see advanced thermal and chemical processes transforming waste into strategic materials. The Ash2Phos plant in Schkopau, Germany, for example, processes 30,000 tonnes of sewage sludge ash annually to produce high-purity phosphorus – a material now recognised in the EU Critical Raw Materials Act – while also recovering valuable co-products such as ferric chloride and construction-grade sand. 

Other pathways are also maturing, through deployment of electrochemical processes, advanced separation, and biologically tuned production platforms. Vivianite, a naturally forming iron-phosphate mineral, can now be selectively recovered via magnetic separation for use as a pigment or phosphate source. Lithium and magnesium are being extracted from desalination brine at battery-grade purity. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate and propionate are emerging as high-value intermediates for chemicals and animal feed, commanding up to 10 times the value per unit of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) compared to methane. Also, new bio-based materials like Kaumera are beginning to prove their worth.  

Traditional processes – anaerobic digestion for biogas, struvite precipitation for phosphorus – remain valuable. But the horizon is expanding, and the recovery community is increasingly exploring a broader portfolio of products, where different treatment trains may be optimised for different outputs. 

Business models and ecosystems – beyond technology 

These process options are just part of the story. One of the striking shifts at this year’s Resource Recovery Conference was that the conversation moved beyond the technical ‘how’ of resource recovery and into the economic ‘why’ and ‘for whom’. If recovery is to move from laboratory to market, it cannot be justified only by process diagrams or pilot results. It must be supported by viable business models. 

This line of thinking draws on tools such as the business model canvas: Who are the customers for recovered products? What value proposition do they offer compared with substitutes already on the market? Through which channels will they be delivered? And perhaps most critically, does the cost structure and potential revenue make sense for the utility or its partners? 

Another clear takeaway from the conference (echoed by Bernhard Truffer in his contribution to the IWA Resource Recovery Conference special magazine issue) is that resource recovery is not the sole responsibility of utilities but the work of an entire ecosystem. Progress depends on networks of actors – utilities, technology providers, regulators, financiers and off-takers – aligning their roles to make new products viable. For such networks to succeed, dedicated businesses are needed that can master the technology, understand the market and operate profitably, all without undermining the public service mandate of the utility. Within this model, utilities are not the finished-goods producers but the suppliers of feedstock, enabling others to refine, distribute, and sell. This is not a replacement of the traditional utility model, but an expansion of it – one that requires careful coordination to balance the public mission with market-orientated ambition, and in doing so, unlocks a more dynamic and resilient future for the sector. 

The low volume, high value opportunity 

Among the emerging technology and product options there are some that stand out as being what we can call low volume, high value opportunities. Battery-grade lithium is one example. SCFAs are another. 

The emergence of these options adds weight to the potential for a profound change – one that is not technological, but philosophical. With the historic treatment objective of protecting health and the environment, resource recovery was a useful by-product. The future may invert this logic: recovery becomes the organising principle, and safe water discharge the inevitable co-benefit. 

Yet there is a tension here that organisational theorists call conflicting institutional logics – a concept also highlighted by Bernhard Truffer. On the one hand, utilities are anchored in their public service mandate: protect health, safeguard the environment and deliver reliable services at cost. On the other, they are now being asked to think and act like market players, developing new products, cultivating buyers and chasing value streams. 

These two logics do not sit comfortably together. Should resource recovery remain an afterthought – a useful by-product of treatment – or should it become the central organising principle, with wastewater treatment reframed as the necessary co-benefit of production? It is not obvious that a stable middle ground exists. So, as we look ahead to the resource recovery opportunities, the sector may need to wrestle with a deeper question: what is the primary purpose of a wastewater utility in a resource-scarce, climate-pressured world? 

The role of IWA – driving innovation 

This is where networks like IWA come in. Utilities carry immense responsibilities: delivering safe drinking water, protecting public health and ensuring reliable wastewater treatment. With such vital mandates, they understandably have little capacity to experiment with new business models or explore how resource recovery could work in practice. Instead, they depend on wider networks to create the space where innovation can emerge. 

That is exactly the role IWA has played – and will continue to play. Through our Specialist Groups, conferences and Resource Recovery cluster, we provide the platforms where utilities can engage with researchers, technology providers, and market actors to explore opportunities and test ideas. In this way, IWA helps move the resource recovery narrative forward: not by prescribing solutions, but by curating the evidence, conversations and partnerships that allow the most promising pathways to take root and flourish. 

Design choices shaped by purpose 

The shift towards low volume, high value options is not an abstract debate; it has very tangible implications for how we design our systems. The treatment trains we select, the scale and location of plants, and even the partnerships we prioritise, will increasingly be determined by what it is we seek to extract. Do we build around neutralisation, where safe discharge is the primary goal, or do we build around extraction, where recovery defines the flow sheet and treatment is the necessary by-product? 

This type of thinking is not entirely new. The discipline of industrial ecology has for decades examined how resource flows can be mapped, optimised and aligned to create value. What is striking is that only now is the water sector beginning to embrace similar questions: if wastewater is a feedstock, what is the most effective way to mine it? Which products justify the investment? And how do those choices cascade down into infrastructure decisions that may lock us into one pathway for decades? 

Such reflections underscore why the sector cannot treat resource recovery as a marginal add-on. It compels us to ask: what kind of system are we designing, and for what purpose? 

It is evident too that resource recovery cannot be reduced to a single pathway. Every recovered resource has its own technical requirements, cost dynamics and market realities. Recovery, therefore, is not one alternative trajectory but a constellation of possible pathways, each demanding different partners, skills and support. Utilities cannot chase all of them. They must decide selectively, choosing which resources to target, which markets to engage, and which innovation systems to align with. 

So, not every utility should try to recover everything. Success may depend on choosing a lane – identifying which resources make sense in a given context, based on local demand, partnership opportunities, and institutional capacity. This is not a retreat from ambition, but a shift toward strategic focus. 

A new paradigm emerging 

If we step back, what is emerging is more than an incremental change in treatment – it is a reframing right across our water systems. From disposal to production. From sunk costs to value generation. From rigid infrastructure to adaptive platforms. 

The opportunities are real, but so are the challenges. Financial viability, enabling policy and public trust will be decisive. And we must avoid naїve techno-optimism: not every product will scale, not every system will pay for itself, and not every context will favour resource recovery. But even recognising these caveats, the trajectory is clear. 

This shift is no longer just about sustainability – it is equally about resource security, circular supply chains, and resilience in a volatile world. As policies like the EU Critical Raw Materials Act recognise wastewater as a source of strategic materials, the case for transformation is not simply environmental; it is also economic and geopolitical. 

We are entering a period where water professionals must think beyond compliance and ask: What if wastewater was the starting point for the materials and energy systems of tomorrow? What would that mean for how we design, finance and govern our infrastructure today? 

That is the frontier now opening before us. And it is one that calls for boldness, pragmatism and imagination in equal measure. For IWA members, the challenge is clear: we must lead in moving this agenda forward – not only by developing technologies, but by rethinking business models, forging partnerships and strengthening the ecosystems in which recovery can thrive. The choices we make today will determine whether wastewater remains an end-of-pipe obligation or becomes the starting point of tomorrow’s resource-secure, circular economy. 

More information 

The conference special magazine edition is available at: https://resourcesinwater.com

The author: Kala Vairavamoorthy is the CEO of the International Water Association 

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The drinking water sector faces constant challenges of protecting public health from a growing number of existing and new water contaminants. Recent amendments in EU Drinking Water Directives, including the inclusion of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and bisphenol A (BPA), reflect the growing concern regarding the health impacts of contaminants known for their immunotoxic potential. These substances can disrupt the body’s ability to protect itself from infections and diseases and, depending on their concentrations, can pose significant risks to public health. Despite this, immunotoxicity is not yet a standard endpoint in chemical risk assessments for water quality because of limited regulatory requirements. This article emphasises the need to integrate immunotoxicity assessment into water quality assessments to enhance safety and better protect public health.

Why immunotoxicity matters
The immune system is essential for protecting the human body from infections and disease. It consists of a complex network of cells, tissues and organs that work together to defend the body against harmful substances and to remove damaged or abnormal cells.
When the immune system is impaired, the body becomes more susceptible to infections and other serious health conditions. This impairment, known as immunotoxicity, can be a result of exposure to certain chemicals that disrupt the normal functioning of the immune system. This can happen directly or indirectly.

Direct immunotoxicity occurs when a toxic substance directly damages components of the immune system (e.g., lymphatic nodes), often weakening its ability to protect the body from infections or abnormal cells, which can increase the risk of incidence of certain diseases such as cancers. Indirect immunotoxicity happens when alterations in other physiological systems (namely the nervous or hormone systems) indirectly affect the immune system (e.g., autoimmune disease induced by endocrine disruptors), disrupting its normal function. These systems work together in a complex manner to maintain a healthy immune response, and if one system is affected, it can impact the others.

Cumulative concerns
A key concern with immunotoxicity is its subtle and cumulative nature. Unlike acute health risks, the effects of immunotoxic chemicals often develop gradually, making them harder to detect early. Over time, these subtle compounding effects can lead to significant immune dysfunction. For instance, exposure to PFAS – compounds that are common in industrial discharges and detected in drinking water – have been linked to reduced vaccine effectiveness, lowered resistance to infections, and a higher risk of certain cancer types (EFSA, 2020). Similarly, bisphenol A (BPA) – widely used in plastics – is associated with endocrine disruption and an increased risk of autoimmune diseases (Chen et al., 2018).

Immunotoxicants pose an especially severe risk to vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems, particularly during critical developmental windows when the immune system is more vulnerable. These critical windows are moments when the immune system is developing specific cells or organs and establishing immune repertoires (T-cells and antibodies). Given the immune system’s vital role in maintaining overall health, immunotoxicity represents a significant public health concern. Therefore, identifying immunotoxic substances, understanding their long-term effects, and preventing their presence at harmful concentrations in drinking water and in other sources of exposure is critical to the protection of public health.

Immunotoxicity testing of contaminants
Chemical contaminants from industrial, agricultural and domestic sources are commonly present in drinking water sources. Monitoring these contaminants is essential to ensure the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Although many contaminants are regulated and anticipated by drinking water companies, others remain undetected, unquantified and toxicologically uncharacterised. This is particularly concerning for (potentially) immunotoxic contaminants, as immunotoxicity is not yet systematically considered when deriving health-based limits for chemical compounds, because of limited regulatory requirements.

While chemicals such as PFAS and BPA are increasingly recognised for their harmful effects on the immune system, many other substances are either inadequately studied during the authorisation phase or entirely overlooked in the context of water safety.
In the European Union (EU), the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals) mandates comprehensive safety assessments of chemicals. However, immunotoxicity testing is not routinely required. Immunotoxicity studies under REACH are only conducted when concern-driven scientific triggers arise, meaning potential immunotoxic effects may go unassessed.

Currently, water quality health limits are primarily based on toxicological risk assessments, considering endpoints such as carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, and organ-specific damage. However, there is still an unmet need for guidelines that also address immunotoxicity and the toxicity of other sensitive organ systems, such as the brain (neurotoxicity) and the endocrine system.

While standardised testing methods exist to assess the immunotoxic properties of individual chemicals for regulatory approval, standardised methods that can be incorporated into water quality assessments are lacking. A key difficulty lies in detecting low-level chemical mixtures in water, where multiple contaminants may interact in unpredictable ways.

There is a significant gap in understanding how these mixtures might affect the immune system compared with individual substances. A major complication is determining whether changes in immune system components, such as specific cells or proteins, actually indicate harm to immune function. This challenge applies to both individual substances and mixtures of contaminants, as well as variations in factors such as age and gender, with different methodologies potentially further complicating the process.

In addition, the immune system has built-in backup mechanisms that can compensate for damage, potentially masking the effects of immunotoxicity. This makes it difficult to establish clear, standardised guidelines for identifying and interpreting immunotoxic effects, as the immune system may adapt or compensate in ways that obscure the true extent of the damage.

Assessing risk
There is a tendency to assume that health effects are unlikely to occur at the low concentrations typically found in drinking water. But this perspective overlooks the potential long-term risks associated with low-level, chronic exposure to contaminants. Even at low concentrations, chemicals in drinking water, such as disinfection by-products or environmental contaminants, can accumulate in the body over time, potentially weakening the immune system and increasing vulnerability to infections or diseases. To address these gaps, there is a pressing need for water quality monitoring and risk assessment approaches that include immunotoxicity as an endpoint.

Emerging approaches
One promising approach to immunotoxicity testing is the evaluation of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs). AOPs are a framework for understanding how chemicals interact with biological systems, potentially leading to adverse health outcomes such as diseases (Nymark et al., 2021). AOPs map the sequence from a chemical’s initial interaction with the body, referred to as a molecular initiating event (MIE), to its final adverse impact on health, the adverse outcome (AO), through several intermediate key events (KEs). A single MIE can trigger a cascade of downstream KEs, which can diverge and lead to various toxicological outcomes (Spinu et al., 2019). Alternatively, multiple MIEs can converge into a single adverse outcome.

In the context of drinking water, prolonged low exposures to contaminants can lead to MIE, which may contribute to KEs, leading ultimately to AOs. For example, drinking water containing organohalogen disinfection by-products (DBPs), such as chloroform, trichloroacetic acid, and trichlorophenol, has been linked to mitochondrial toxicity (McMinn et al., 2019). The key event in this case is the excessive production of free radicals (reactive oxygen species), which can overwhelm the body’s antioxidant defences, leading to oxidative stress and associated cellular damage.

Despite this growing understanding of how contaminants trigger these molecular mechanisms, the application of AOP frameworks to immunotoxicity is still limited. New approach methodologies (NAMs), which include non-animal testing methods, such as in vitro bioassays and computational models, can play a critical role in bridging these gaps by providing the tools to assess key events within AOPs.

Operational approaches
AOPs may seem very technical and difficult to integrate into the daily operations of water quality managers. However, gaining a basic understanding of key concepts such as MIEs and KEs, which trigger adverse effects such as immunotoxicity, can be highly useful. This knowledge can help inform risk management decisions and assumptions, guiding more effective strategies for managing water quality across various environments, including drinking water, surface water, groundwater and wastewater.

Effect-based monitoring (EBM), for example, has gained recognition as a valuable approach for evaluating drinking water quality, complementary to chemical analytical approaches.
EBM refers to a set of bioanalytical tools (bioassays) that assess water quality by capturing the combined effects of the complex low-level mixture of known and unknown chemicals present in water, if they are active in the applied bioassays. This approach is particularly important given the complex mixtures of chemical contaminants found in water bodies, which traditional targeted chemical analyses may not be able to capture adequately.

Knowledge of AOPs can aid in identifying the most relevant effect-based method to detect immunotoxic or other effects of low-level chemical mixtures in water. In addition, it can support the establishment of effect-based trigger values (EBTs), which are used as benchmarks to assess potential health risks and guide regulatory decisions to ensure drinking water is safe. This enables water companies to implement more focused and efficient monitoring strategies, especially when time, budget or resource constraints are present. Prioritising bioassays based on AOPs may ensure that the most adequate bioassays provide relevant information based on the most critical indicators.

Integrating immunotoxicity into water quality monitoring
To address the limitations of conventional effect-based monitoring techniques in detecting the specific immunotoxic effects of complex mixtures of legacy and emerging contaminants, there is a pressing need to make use of immunotoxicological information of individual substances – and relevant mixtures – and consider integrating immunotoxicity testing methods into the routine evaluation of drinking water sources. The following recommendations outline a clear path forward:

Implementation of a tiered approach to testing, starting with broad screening bioassays and moving to more detailed studies on high-risk contaminants. This will help prioritise which chemicals to focus on, based on their potential to affect immune health.

Establish EBTs for chemical mixtures with immune effects. EBTs are the thresholds that indicate whether a chemical concentration requires further investigation. This will enable quicker decision-making when assessing water safety using effect-based methods.

Prioritise substances not routinely tested for immunotoxicity, from sources such as chemical industries, pharmaceuticals and microplastics, based on factors such as environmental persistence, potential for human exposure, and possible health risks.

Develop scientifically validated testing protocols for immunotoxicity aligned with both next generation risk assessment (NGRA) and water quality monitoring, to ensure that practices reflect the latest advancements in immunotoxicological science.

Further research to develop standardised immunotoxicity bioassays for drinking water.

Conclusion

Immunotoxicity is an essential, but overlooked aspect of drinking water safety and chemical safety in general. Chemicals that disrupt the immune system may not show immediate effects, but their long-term impacts can be adverse, especially for vulnerable populations.

The lack of standardised methods for detecting immunotoxicity in water emphasises a significant gap in current water quality practice, which leaves the public’s health at potential risk from contaminants via this route. While it is not yet definitively established whether immunotoxic effects from drinking water are likely or widespread, certain populations may be more susceptible to potential risks. With emerging contaminants posing new challenges, it is crucial that water utilities continue to take proactive measures to assess and mitigate risks, including those resulting from exposure to immunotoxic contaminants. Collaboration between scientific researchers and water utilities is crucial for conducting research that addresses knowledge gaps about the immunotoxic potential of emerging water contaminants.

Acknowledgement
The research presented in this article was funded by the Waterwijs collective research programme of Dutch water companies, Flemish water company De Watergroep, and the Association of Drinking Water Companies, the Netherlands (Vewin).

More information
Chen, Y., Xu, H. S., & Guo, T. L. (2018). Modulation of cytokine/chemokine production in human macrophages by bisphenol A: a comparison to analogues and interactions with genistein. Journal of Immunotoxicology, 15(1), 96-103. doi.org/10.1080/1547691x.2018.1476629

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). (2020). Scientific opinion on the risk to human health related to the presence of perfluoroalkyl substances in food. EFSA Journal, 18 (9): 6223, 391pp. doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6223

McMinn, B., Duval, A. L., & Sayes, C. M. (2019). An adverse outcome pathway linking organohalogen exposure to mitochondrial disease. Journal of Toxicology, 2019, 1–24. doi.org/10.1155/2019/9246495

Nymark, P., Sachana, M., Leite, S. B., Sund, J., Krebs, C. E., Sullivan, K., Edwards, S. W., Viviani, L., Willett, C., Landesmann, B., & Wittwehr, C. (2021). Systematic organization of COVID-19 data supported by the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework. Frontiers in Public Health, 9. doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.638605

Spinu, N., Bal-Price, A., Cronin, M. T. D., Enoch, S. J., Madden, J. C., & Worth, A. P. (2019). Development and analysis of an adverse outcome pathway network for human neurotoxicity. Archives of Toxicology, 93(10), 2759–2772. doi.org/10.1007/s00204-019-02551-1

The authors: Sanah Majid is a scientific researcher and toxicologist, Daniel Duarte is a scientific researcher and project leader, and Tessa Pronk is a scientific researcher, all at the KWR Water Research Institute;
Corine Houtman is a toxicologist at Het Waterlaboratorium and VU University;
Insam Al Saify is a toxicologist at Waternet;
Merijn Schriks is a specialist drinking water quality toxicologist at Vitens;
Janine Ezendam is Head of the Department of Innovative Testing Strategies at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment;
Raymond Pieters is Associate Professor at Utrecht University and full Professor at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences;
Milou Dingemans is Chief Science Officer and Principal Toxicologist at KWR Water Research Institute and guest researcher at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University;
All are based in the Netherlands

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‘Inspiring’, ‘exciting’, ‘enhancing’ and ‘enlightening’ – these were some of the words used by the first cohort of IWA’s LeaP Leadership Programme for Young Water Professionals (YWPs) about their immersive retreat in the stunning Malaysian state of Sabah, in the northern part of the island of Borneo, on 19-22 November 2024.

The retreat is the centrepiece of this new programme, which will culminate in attendance at the 2026 IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition (WWCE) in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. The group gathered in Sabah comprised: Bénigne Ishimwe Mugwaneza, Rwanda; Chotiwat (CJ) Jantarakasem, Thailand; Federick Pinongcos, USA; Igor Luketina, Austria; Laurence Strubbe, Switzerland; Linda Li, Canada; Matthew MacRorie, UK; Natalie Páez-Curtidor, Colombia; Oscar Timothy Balongo, Tanzania; Shivon Mehta, India; Yaw Abrampah, Ghana; and Yumeng Zhao, China. 

The retreat provided space in a rich environment for this diverse group of YWPs to stretch themselves, collaborate, share experiences, and challenge themselves and their ideas. With a location famed for its mountains, beaches, rainforest, coral reefs and abundant wildlife, much of which can be found in its parks and reserves, this was a retreat that fed the senses and called on the YWPs to adapt to an environment outside of their comfort zones.

Elevating the most talented

LeaP encourages a cohort of 12 exceptional YWPs to embark on a transformative journey to professional empowerment, helping them each to realise their full potential and expand their horizons. 

The programme provides successful candidates from diverse backgrounds and regions with the opportunity to forge robust professional networks and enhance their leadership skills over a 12-month period, through an immersive programme that provides a springboard for their careers and, with it, their personal and professional development. What makes this programme unique is that it’s not just about learning – it is about living the experience and empowering the individual to effect meaningful change. Fuelled by curiosity and courage, participants are advised to prepare to be challenged, rewarded and empowered as they elevate their strategic vision and leadership capabilities.

IWA is investing in the leaders of tomorrow

Supported by the Emerging Water Leaders Endowment Fund, the LeaP programme aims to nurture the leadership of high-potential YWPs by: 

• Transforming their leadership – empowering them to think and act globally 
• Building their confidence to inspire and influence others – accelerating their impact at a local, societal and global level 
• Providing the opportunity for them to learn how to adapt and thrive in ambiguous, complex and fast-changing environments
• Strengthening their foundations for future success by overcoming personal or professional barriers
• Raising their impact and visibility within IWA, with the potential to take on leadership roles in the Association over the coming years.

Providing structured learning, the programme consists of: a four-day retreat; four hours a month of preparation and project time; five hours a month in virtual learning, coaching or project team meetings; a virtual workshop in September 2025; and attendance at the 2026 WWCE.

Marking an important step in advancing IWA’s vision to build a deeply committed and connected group of future leaders, this innovative programme aims to accelerate the professional development and growth of the participating YWPs, promising to: 

• Stretch participants’ leadership skills, while helping to build a diverse group of Alumni IWA leaders, connected and engaged with IWA
• Combine inspirational thinking from specialist speakers and leadership experts, by providing deep personal learning through targeted topics, a powerful strengths diagnostic tool, and self-managed projects aided by challenge and support from facilitators, coaches and peers
• Encourage diversity of thought, perspectives, cultures and backgrounds to ensure that the richness of the group’s global and diverse experience is maximised.

This rich and aspirational programme is led by a Programme Committee made up of key IWA members, who will contribute to the programme by getting involved in the community sessions, working as project guides, and providing advice on the delivery of the programme.

Immersive retreat

The LeaP retreat in Sabah was a powerful four-day experience that combined radical self-inquiry, practical skills, shared learning, and meaningful conversations. Held at an eco-literacy campus set in 34 acres of natural beauty, the location featured a guest house providing communal living and powered by solar energy, and using rainwater harvested from its rooftops.

This unique retreat was relaxed and informal. Standing apart from more traditional IWA events, it provided a safe environment to explore ideas and support rich learning. A key focus of the event was on aligning ‘who you are’ with ‘how you lead’ while fostering space for growth and connection.

This began with participants reflecting on the profound notion that ‘change begins within ourselves’. These reflections culminated in setting clear intentions for the next 12 months of the programme. Participants explored pathways for personal and collective transformation, using tools such as the Logical Levels of Change (LLOC), a powerful framework for examining human experiences, and the Situation-Behaviour-Impact-Action (SBIA) Feedback Model.

Community-led engagement

On day two of the retreat, participants spent the day with leaders of the villages of Kg Kolosunan, Kg Babagon Toki and Kg Tampasak – three communities profoundly impacted by the construction of the Babagon Dam in the 1990s. 

The YWPs heard first hand how the dam submerged entire homes, displaced families and disrupted livelihoods. While the Babagon Dam now provides 57% of the state capital Kota Kinabalu’s clean water, these communities remain excluded from its supply, relying instead on traditional gravity-fed water systems.

However, this is also a story of resilience. These communities are now at the heart of Forever Sabah’s Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) pilot project, which champions the protection of the Babagon Watershed and the creation of a Babagon Catchment Water Fund. This initiative aims to compensate the communities for their environmental stewardship while fostering sustainable socioeconomic development.

This led to a workshop where the YWPs collaborated, constructing 3D models of communities in three different geographical realities, based on reflections and discussions around the following important questions: Who was missing from the picture, and is this a sustainable reality, or do things need to change? The exercise sparked deep discussions about inclusivity, equity, and the importance of holistic approaches to water management.

The day was filled with powerful conversations, emotional reflections, and inspiring stories of hope. It reminded all of the participants that water is about more than infrastructure – it’s about people, partnerships, and creating a future that leaves no one behind.

Reflecting on these activities, a key takeaway that resonated throughout the group was that leadership is about people. It’s about listening to their concerns, fostering resilient communities, and tackling challenges with an open mind.

The participants also explored what these insights mean for IWA YWPs and the broader IWA network, and joined in their commitment to raising awareness, sharing their learnings, and fostering change. The concept of the ‘Window of Tolerance’ sparked meaningful discussions. When challenges arise, many of us tend to panic or shut down. Mastering the ability to function within this ‘window’ is crucial for approaching difficult situations with clarity and balance.

The final day of the retreat marked the beginning of an exciting year ahead as participants embarked on collaborative projects designed to address critical water challenges and strengthen their leadership journey. The participants selected the following three themes on which to focus their projects:

• Pollution and Contamination Control
• Circular Economy in the Water Sector
• Achieving SDG 6.1 and SDG 6.2.

So, what’s next?

Over the course of the programme, participants will tap into the power of the IWA network, supported by the Programme Committee and project coaches, to make a tangible impact in the water sector.

Key features of the programme include:

• Coaching sessions enabling participants to discuss their strengths with experienced coaches and explore how these can propel their leadership journey
• Masterclasses focused on essential leadership topics, such as influencing with impact and leading in uncertain environments
• IWA Communities Insights sessions providing opportunities for engaging discussions with influential IWA members shaping both the Association and the water sector
• Mentoring sessions offering participants the chance to interact with mentors from within the IWA community, gaining valuable guidance and insights

Influencing with Impact Programme

On 16 January 2025, participants attended the first masterclass of the Influencing with Impact Programme. Expertly moderated by Sally Domingo-Jones and Henri Stevenson, from The Oxford Group, the session equipped LeaP’s YWPs with essential skills to master the art of influence.

The session began with an inspiring update from the first cohort, who reflected on their journeys since the retreat in Borneo. Building on their experiences, the discussion delved into the following key objectives:

• Identifying who and what they need to influence
• Recognising stakeholder personality preferences and needs
• Adapting their influencing style – one size does not fit all
• Developing soft skills to engage stakeholders effectively
• Applying these insights to real-world scenarios.

Participants also engaged in breakout discussions, exploring challenges to effective influencing and strategies for adapting their approach based on stakeholder personalities and their own strengths.

The ball is rolling!

Empowering the next generation of water leaders is at the heart of IWA’s mission, and this masterclass was a step towards shaping confident and impactful professionals. We wish them good luck and we look forward to seeing the development of this exciting new programme! 

More information

iwa-network.org/iwa-leap-leadership-programme

Emerging Water Leaders Endowment Fund

Announced at IWA’s World Water Congress & Exhibition (WWCE) held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2022, the Emerging Water Leaders Endowment Fund was launched with a generous donation of $1 million by former IWA President Glen Daigger and his wife, Patty. As an endowment, the fund aims to create a lasting legacy dedicated to supporting activities that bring about meaningful change in the lives of Young Water Professionals (YWPs).

The endowment fund has been invested, and the returns are being used in IWA’s new LeaP Leadership Programme. Officially started in November 2024, LeaP is supporting high-achieving YWPs – providing mentoring and leadership training – helping them to build their professional networks within the global water community. 

LeaP empowers YWPs to realise their full potential and make a greater impact on vital water issues. Through the programme, participants gain a strong foundation in leadership and management skills, which promises to help fast-track their professional development and benefit the water sector through their diverse experience and knowledge – gaining a breadth of expertise that will be critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Develop Goals (SDGs).

While LeaP is already transforming the careers of 12 YWPs from diverse backgrounds, it is critical that the endowment fund continues to thrive and grow. The fund provides an outstanding opportunity to invest in a sustainable, equitable and resilient water future. 

IWA is calling on everyone who can to consider making a donation. Whether your gift is large or small, your donation will be used to support IWA’s vision of creating a network of exceptional water professionals striving for a world in which water is wisely, sustainably and equitably managed. If you are interested in contributing to the fund, please see the IWA website www.iwa-network.org

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More than half the world’s population live in urban areas. Many growing towns and cities, especially in the Global South, are marked by inadequate sanitation, sewage and drainage facilities. With 3.5 billion people still lacking access to safe sanitation, most national and global sanitation drives have tended to focus on toilet construction, sewer connections and hardware. These have often ignored the second and third generation challenges of sanitation concerning water contamination, poor faecal sludge management, gender, equity and sustainability.

Yet, these challenges can also be an opportunity. Human waste is rich in water, nutrients and organic compounds, but, usually, this mostly goes down the drain. The increase of extreme weather events, water shortages, and weak infrastructure mean that ‘flush and forget’ systems are not always possible or desirable in off-grid settings. This is why the project ‘Towards Brown Gold’ sought to understand the potential for reuse of faecal waste and how marginalised communities experience sanitation in five rapidly urbanising areas across four countries: Nanded and Alleppey, India; Mekelle, Ethiopia; Wa, Ghana; and Gulariya, Nepal. The research was both inter- and trans-disciplinary, seeking to integrate the social sciences, engineering, microbiology and creative arts to understand the socio-political, technical, cultural and microbial processes and contexts of sanitation and waste processes.

A springboard for progress

Northern European countries have been piloting new approaches at increasing scale. According to the Toilet Board Coalition, the sanitation crisis can enable innovation and provide resources for a trillion-dollar global industry. In India alone, the predicted market for waste recovery and reuse is as large as $9–28 billion. 

Contextual challenges

Despite this potential, the ‘Towards Brown Gold’ project found that the challenges of resource recovery from human waste might have been underestimated. The potential for reuse was found to be limited by the combined challenges of the existing sanitation infrastructure, pervasive cultural perceptions, a lack of cross-sector collaboration, and a narrative that exaggerates the benefits of the circular sanitation economy and endorses a market driven approach to sanitation.

Moreover, for reuse efforts to be successful and perceived as relevant by communities, they need to happen in a context of high sanitation coverage or come with a wider push to ensure everybody has access to sanitation. In reality, access to safely managed sanitation services was found to be lagging across the countries studied. Progress is particularly slow among groups marginalised because of their caste, class, gender and migration history. 

Sanitation progress is often hampered by insufficient resources that are skewed towards centralised sewered systems, unclear roles and responsibilities, and poor intersectoral collaboration across water, health, urban and rural development. 

Steps to success

The policy brief from the ‘Towards Brown Gold’ research project highlights six ways decision-makers can realise the potential for resource recovery from human waste and accelerate progress towards universal, safely managed sanitation in rapidly urbanising areas:

Make safely managed sanitation a political priority

National and urban level governments need to create, reform and implement policies, strategies and regulations to ensure there is sufficient funding and resources so that everybody has access to a toilet at home, and that faecal waste is managed in a way that protects public health and the environment. Acknowledgment of the global prevalence of non-sewered systems is central to the revision of policies and plans. Particular attention should be put on reaching and involving communities and residents who are poor and marginalised by society, such as those living in informal settlements.

Facilitate inclusive sanitation planning

Urban planners and policymakers need to address the multifaceted challenges of sanitation in an inclusive way, recognising the historical and social contexts of sanitation issues, and how communities who are marginalised experience sanitation. These communities’ voices and demands must be central to the planning process, and to holding authorities and service providers to account.

Protect the rights of sanitation workers

Governments need to properly recognise the crucial roles of sanitation workers – those emptying septic tanks and pits, unblocking sewers or operating treatment plants – in keeping sanitation services running and their towns and communities clean and liveable. Recognising their work includes protecting their rights to fair wages, social security, safety at work and self-organisation (such as with unions). Sanitation efforts must always include the health, safety and dignity of sanitation workers, both formal and informal.

Cautiously promote the circular sanitation economy

Reusing treated faecal waste, such as for irrigation or as compost, has positive impacts for the economy, the environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation. This circular sanitation economy can help accelerate progress, but overselling its benefits can be counterproductive, undermining the message that public investment is critical to ensure sanitation services for all. The promotion of the circular sanitation economy should instead be: realistic about the benefits and the many challenges involved; aware of community priorities; and integrated into a wider sanitation push to close any gaps in access to toilets and to address the whole sanitation service chain.

Ground reuse efforts in the context

Those designing and leading sanitation circular economy initiatives should ensure that their efforts are grounded in local, economic, social and cultural contexts. This includes considering economic aspects such as where farmers buy compost, or whether other product types could be more profitable. This should also include social aspects such as cultural perceptions of waste, or how to effectively raise awareness of the benefits of reuse. Engaging an interdisciplinary team is an effective way of doing this, combining natural and social sciences, as well as art-based approaches to community engagement.

Reform policy to enable reuse

Decision-makers need to invest in understanding and improving the enabling environment for sanitation in general, and reuse in particular. Policies and regulations should create positive incentives to reuse and eliminate existing barriers.

Overall, there is a need for policy and political reimagination to radically consider alternative models and increase financial allocations and commitments to safely managed sanitation solutions that are sustainable and inclusive for all.

More information

washmatters.wateraid.org/publications/towards-brown-gold-challenges-opportunities-reuse-universal-sanitation-urban-areas

The authors:

Lyla Mehta is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and a Visiting Professor at Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences; Andrés Hueso González is senior policy analyst – sanitation at WaterAid; Alan Nicol is principal researcher at the International Water Management Institute; and Ben O’Donovan-Iland is communications and impact officer at the Institute of Development Studies

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By Erika Yarrow-Soden

As an expert in socio-hydrology, Dr Veena Srinivasan focuses on a discipline that puts the human aspect into water engineering. Not commonly discussed, the field finds solutions that focus on the needs of communities, delivering benefits that cut to the heart of local considerations and recognise the need to make provision for societal change.

IWA Water and Development Awards

Srinivasan’s work earned her recognition as a winner of IWA’s prestigious Water and Development Awards 2023, which were unveiled during the opening ceremony of the IWA Water and Development Congress on 10 December, in Kigali, Rwanda.

The awards recognise excellence, leadership and innovation in the water sector, and aim to encourage the sustainable management of water in low- and middle-income countries. Srinivasan was honoured in the Research category, while Dr Doulaye Kone, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was recognised in the Practice category.

Judged by a diverse panel of experts, and awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to research or practice that have led to demonstrable impact, the judges noted that Srinivasan demonstrated bravery and passion in her quest to follow an emerging, but much-needed, knowledge path in socio-hydrology.

WELL Labs

A water professional with more than 20 years of experience, Srinivasan was also recognised for her establishment of Water, Environment, Land and Livelihoods (WELL) Labs in Bengaluru, India, in 2023.

Based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), WELL Labs (along with Krea University and other centres at IFMR) provide a hub for research and innovation on societal impacts on land and water, and curate and design science-based solutions.

Working with governments, businesses, multilateral institutions and civil society groups to co-create solutions that simultaneously create livelihoods and conserve the environment, WELL Labs takes a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to the environmental and social threats of climate change, resource depletion, pollution, and food and water insecurity. While understanding that the source of these challenges and their solutions are often unique and local, WELL Labs gathers evidence and designs solutions that can be replicated quickly across regions.

“Humans impact water systems and water systems impact human beings”

Combating India’s water crisis with socio-hydrology

Srinivasan says: “I am proud that my work has been recognised for laying the foundations of socio-hydrology as a discipline. My focus on analysing data and triangulation across datasets represents a significant departure from traditional water resources management methods, and has raised awareness of what kind of science is needed to solve India’s water crisis.”

Socio-hydrology is an interdisciplinary field studying the dynamic interactions and feedbacks between water and people, with areas of research including: study of the historic interplay between hydrological and social processes; analysis of cultural dynamics and their impact on water and society; and process-based modelling of coupled human-water systems.

“Humans impact water systems and water systems impact human beings. There is a relationship that goes in both directions,” says Srinivasan. “If we extract groundwater, water levels drop. But, in the other direction, human behaviour is moulded by water systems. Human behaviour constantly adapts. This behaviour wasn’t traditionally considered in most water management analysis.”

Srinivasan explains that socio-hydrology enables researchers to gain understanding of the impact that drought has on societies; the impact that new technologies can make; how the relationship people have with water changes as they become wealthier; and how behaviour adapts in different ways and across different timescales.

“Over short timescales, people may cut back on water consumption because there is a lot in the media about a drought,” says Srinivasan. “But, over decades, people may shift their values and beliefs in significant ways.

“Most societies, as they develop, are focused on pulling themselves out of poverty. At this stage of development, the environment may not seem to matter so much, and decisions with regards to infrastructure are focused on maximising income.

“But as societies earn more, their values change. This is important to understand because most decisions on infrastructure will remain for 50-100 years. The climate might change over that period and what humans aspire to will also change. These factors and how they are responded to will impact water systems and govern whether they advance or collapse.

Putting people at the heart of development

Improved understanding of how people respond in the medium- and long-term as societies develop would result in better investments. Srinivasan provides the example of India’s water crisis: “It is a hot, dry country. There isn’t enough water for everyone, and there is also a climate crisis. In most developing countries, there is an engineering emphasis in terms of development. Engineering is incredibly important. However, what isn’t considered often enough is the human side and human interaction with engineered systems.”

There has been a tendency to develop infrastructure that provides a solution but that doesn’t take into account the way societies develop, explains Srinivasan. This results in both over- and under-investment because of a lack of understanding about the way humans behave or interact with technology.

Srinivasan provides the example of dams, where there has been a huge amount of well-intentioned investment, but, she explains, this hasn’t always had the impact that communities were hoping for.

“Instead of thinking about engineering solutions to India’s water crisis, we need to think about coming up with a socio-technical solution that is sensible and realistic,” she says.

The example of Bengaluru

Bengaluru is India’s third most populous city and fourth most populous urban agglomeration. When wastewater treatment facilities became unable to keep pace with development, the authorities imposed a decentralised wastewater treatment law that requires apartment compounds of a certain size to have their own decentralised wastewater unit. With utilities unable to keep up with demand in response to this new law, it was left to developers to build their own treatment facilities. “People only knew how to build traditional wastewater treatment plants,” says Srinivasan. “These are centralised systems that required high expertise. The result was systems that didn’t function very well.

“Instead of thinking about engineering solutions to India’s water crisis, we need to think about coming up with a socio-technical solution that is sensible and realistic”

“Suddenly, you have an example of social hydrology, where you have to solve this problem of making apartment compounds in the city capable of using complex technologies. There was also the problem of how to deal with the treated wastewater.

“The city authorities said that all of the treated wastewater had to be used within the apartment compound. This is a highly dense city and people don’t have space to use this water for irrigation.”

While some complexes invested in dual plumbing so that some of this water could be used for toilet flushing, there was still vast amounts of wastewater that the city required, by law, to remain on site. “It was a law that was designed to fail,” says Srinivasan, explaining that most rules for recycling wastewater had not been set.

“The standards that work in other countries do not necessarily work in Indian conditions,” adds Srinivasan. “We need to build alliances and coalitions to collectively solve India’s water problems. It’s about bringing people together in a way that looks at the science and engineering that doesn’t jeopardise public health and doesn’t discount human behaviour. The solution has to be simple and economical.

“At WELL Labs we work to build solutions to solve these very complex problems.”

Development in low- and middle-income countries

“For low-income countries, finances remain the critical bottleneck,” says Srinivasan. “It’s a chicken and egg situation, where you need water for populations to be healthy and able to work, and so fuel growth.

“For middle-income countries, such as India and China, that have an economy of a certain size, we have the pieces to resolve the water crisis, but we haven’t been able to pull them together.

“We know how to do technology, but we have a problem of agency and coordination. The challenge is designing socio-technical systems.

“In India, we have technologies that are stranded from the systems and that is the big challenge that we face. I don’t think it’s just about money anymore.” •

More information

Find out more about IWA’s Awards, including the 2024 edition, at: iwa-network.org/awards

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Every year, scores of people all over the world die from waterborne diseases caused by a lack of access to clean drinking water. When we reflect on where we are today, safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are still out of reach for billions of people.

The statistics published in the 2023 Joint Monitoring Program Report of the World Health Organization (WHO) is alarming. Water scarcity could displace 700 million people by 2030. Even today, one in four people around the world does not have access to safe drinking water. In 2022, 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed water.

A six-fold increase in the pace of progress is required if the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for drinking water are to be met by 2030. Currently, no SDG region (the SDGs cover eight regions in 191 member countries) is on track to achieve universal access to safely managed water by 2030.

Is it safe to drink directly from the tap?

A map by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA shows the countries where one can drink water from the tap without fear (see below). Just 50 countries in the world today offer drinkable tap water, and it is observed that the majority of the 50 countries are in Europe, with only four countries in the Americas included. Many developed countries do not feature in this list.

With this background, when considering a country as large as India, can anyone even think of drinking water directly from a tap? The answer is a resounding ‘no’.

However, Odisha, a state in India, has achieved a seemingly impossible feat. Once infamous for drought and poverty, Odisha is now providing direct access to high-quality drinking water that meets IS 10500 standards to homes in cities across the state. We aim to roll this out to every household in the region.

Odisha’s water story

Odisha is a coastal state, accounting for up to 4% of the total landmass of India. With 48 million people, its population is greater than many countries. Of this population, around 8 million people are concentrated in urban regions, spread across 115 urban local bodies.

Despite a GDP of $110bn, Odisha was facing multiple issues concerning water accessibility in its urban regions up until around 2016. With many areas without a pipe network, drinking water coverage was inadequate, with only 40% of the urban population having access to drinking water facilities. This would result in people being forced to wait in long lines to obtain water. Only 30% of houses had water connections and, as a result, illegal connections were rampant. In addition, the region suffered from low pressure and an erratic supply, often providing access to water for only two to four hours each day.

The region’s population had inequitable access, with disparities in water availability within and between cities. Water was not metered, and revenue collection was very low, with water loss as high as 50%. This was accompanied by huge public distrust in government service delivery. The region’s water was of poor quality, with leaky networks and resources frequently contaminated, leading to outbreaks of waterborne diseases. In response, the state government initiated the Drink from Tap (DFT) Mission in 2020 – a groundbreaking effort that has revolutionised drinking water service delivery across the Urban Local Bodies of the state. This transformative initiative aims to deliver 24×7 access to IS 10500 quality drinking water directly to all urban household taps. The primary objective was to provide safe, round the clock water directly from taps, minimising health risks and guaranteeing 100% household coverage with piped water and metering.

“Just 50 countries in the world today offer drinkable tap water”

How far have we come?

Today, we see coverage such that, in urban environments, 99% of households have piped water connections in their homes, with this lowering slightly, to 97% of households, in informal settlements.

With the ambition to leave no one behind, Odisha has moved to the higher orbit of cities, providing DFT IS 10500 quality water to every home 24×7. In July 2021, Puri, the holy city of the state, with a population of 0.3 million people and 20 million tourists a year, became the first 24×7 DFT city in India. So far, 24×7 DFT supplies have been successfully delivered to 24 other cities in the region, benefitting 2.5 million people, with seven cities declared as DFT cities. Over the next five years, we plan to upscale to provide 24×7 DFT to all 115 cities in the state.

The business case

From the previous high levels of water loss and illegal connections, Odisha’s figures with regards to water services have improved considerably. Now we are receiving upwards of 90% revenue collection, non-revenue water (NRW) is below 15%, and 100% metering has been achieved.

The hurdles along the way

This transformation was not easy. We faced many challenges and roadblocks, and learned many lessons the hard way. So, what did we learn from this project spanning five to seven years? The path followed and the solutions adopted for each hurdle we faced are enumerated below.

Enabling policy measures

To increase coverage of piped water to each home, we deployed enabling policy measures with the aim of providing universal coverage with last mile connectivity. These included:

• A citizen’s Right to Tap Water, with a particular focus on the urban poor;
• The drinking water application process was simplified, with documentation reduced from 14 to just two pages;
• Connection fees were waived for the urban poor and other vulnerable people;
• Execution of house connection responsibilities were shifted from consumers to the government, easing the problem of gaining permission for roadworks and engaging skilled operators.

Process re-engineering

To achieve universal coverage, the state had to move beyond existing practices and re-engineered the processes for delivering water services, including:

• An amendment to pipe procurement policy: departmental procurement reduced the cash flow burden on contractors, resulting in a more competitive market for local contractors;
• Large projects were unbundled, and smaller projects let local contractors bid more competitively.

Infrastructure augmentation

With the aim of reaching every lane, by-lane and each home, massive infrastructure augmentation works were implemented. This entailed an investment of $750m on more than 1200 projects; the laying of more than 8000 km of pipeline; and 100% metering of house connections, going from none in 2019 to 0.7 million in 2023.

Community partnership

Once we addressed infrastructure and policy needs, we realised that without forging partnerships with the local community, and building trust between consumers and the water authority, our objectives would not be achieved. As part of this work, we introduced the Jal Sathi initiative and partnered with women’s self-help groups (SHG). The local SHG members were engaged as Jal Sathis at ward level in a performance-linked, incentive-based partnership.

The Jal Sathis act as a bridge between the water supply agency and consumers, providing doorstep services and facilitating hassle-free connection processes. The initiative, importantly, also provided a partnership model that fostered women’s empowerment and gender parity. So far, we have trained and equipped 947 Jal Sathis, each earning an average of $200-300 per month. Their roles include facilitating new connections, regularising unauthorised connections, meter reading, bill generation and collection of water user charges, water quality testing in the field, and raising awareness of good health and hygiene practices among consumers.

“With the aim of reaching every lane, by-lane and each home, massive infrastructure augmentation works were implemented”

How do we ensure quality at the consumer’s tap?

To ensure that the quality of water was maintained, we set up state-of-the-art water testing laboratories across the state. We also implemented IoT-based real-time water quality monitoring, with real-time flow and pressure analysis. Online residual chlorine analysers were installed to support an automated chlorine dosing system to ensure contamination-free water at consumer taps. In addition, for every DFT city, a Lab on Wheels was deployed for on the spot quality testing. Each Jal Sathi also conducts a minimum of 30 indicator water quality tests, such as hydrogen sulphide and free residual chlorine tests, at consumer taps in their respective areas.

Plugging leaks and losses

Water losses from the system were our biggest concern. To address this, we implemented: IoT enabled digital water management with real-time data collection and analysis; GIS-based assets and consumer mapping; real-time flow and pressure management; repair management measures; complaint redress tracking; an exclusive NRW cell in each city; and improved house connections, with saddle and compression fittings. We also created a community of plumbers to ensure house connections were leakproof.

Building trust and consumer confidence

Building consumer trust and confidence was key. First, we needed to instil consumer-centric service delivery and embed a consumer-friendly attitude in our staff. Initiatives focusing on this included the provision of:

• A 24×7 customer care centre with a toll-free number and real-time tracking of complaints;
• Quick response team delivering service anytime, anywhere;
• A Lab on Wheels, providing on the spot water quality analysis;
• Water quality indicator testing, delivered by community partners;
• The ‘Pure for Sure’ campaign to build public trust and confidence;
• Real-time displays of water quality in public places.

As testament to this initiative, an independent impact assessment survey of consumer perceptions by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), found that in Bhubaneswar and Puri DFT zones, 79% and 88% of people respectively drank from the tap without filtering or boiling their water.

Is the Drink from Tap model replicable and scalable?

Our journey so far affirms that, with a systematic approach, the model that we have established is replicable. There were several myths regarding water supply in India, such as a 24×7 water supply will lead to increased demand, high wastage, intensive capital costs and high O&M costs, and will be unsustainable. We have proved them all wrong.

Public health impact

By increasing piped water connections, the government of Odisha has been able to reduce the occurrence of waterborne diseases by more than 90%. In the case of jaundice, for example, there were 3608 cases and 29 deaths reported in 2014. This reduced to only 29 cases in 2022, with no jaundice related deaths in the past three years.

Community benefits

The time that the people of Odisha have saved in fetching water has enabled the community to focus on more economically productive activities. Absenteeism from school and work has reduced, and households have made savings of approximately $500-700 as a result of no longer needing facilities for storing water, or pumps, fuel and water filters. Monthly savings have been made on purchasing water and on the costs of medical expenses. There have also been environmental benefits, with plastic waste from bottled water reduced and tanker supplies and NRW reductions cutting energy use and improving the region’s carbon footprint.

Ripple effect

Our model of DFT has influenced many national policies, including National Guideline AMRUT 2.0, a flagship programme, initiated by the government of India, that mandated to deliver 500 DFT 24×7 cities across the country. A case study ‘Drink from Tap Mission in Puri City (A Case Study of 24×7 Water Supply Project)’ was published by the Central Public Health & Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), with the government of India in November 2021, followed by ‘Guidelines for Planning, Design and Implementation of 24×7 Water Supply Systems: Drink from Tap’, published in December 2021.

On 20 July 2023, a contract was signed between Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), Chennai City, and the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), with WATCO providing design, bid assistance, contract management and commissioning services in a $200m project to supply 24×7 DFT water to approximately 1.5 million people, funded by the World Bank.

That CMWSSB, an organisation of more than 45 years, serving a large metro city of around 10 million people, has sought the assistance of five-year-old WATCO was very overwhelming for us.

Moving forward, WATCO is now in discussion with Delhi Jal Board, the world’s second largest water utility after Tokyo Metro Water, to deliver 24×7 DFT in New Delhi, the national capital of India.

A project of lasting legacy

The impact of this initiative is being seen and experienced across Odisha. Key to its success was the leveraging of political will, flexibility over policy, community engagement, continuous upskilling and adoption of new technology, and leadership, teamwork, and agile decision-making across the board. This model has the capacity to be learned from and adapted to many regions currently lacking access to safe, clean, piped drinking water. Our model proves that it is possible to transform daily lives, improve public health and benefit the economy. The myths have been busted. The delivery of clean drinking water for all is in our reach.

Strong political and administrative commitments, policy and institutional reforms, and technology adaptation with community partnership at its heart have been the keys to success in this unique and pioneering public water supply management model. •

The author: G Mathi Vathanan is additional chief secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, India. He has authored a book, People First – How Odisha’s Drink from Tap Mission Quenched Every Thirst, on the transformational journey of urban Odisha, encapsulating the strategies, the step-by-step approach that was undertaken from the beginning, the lessons that were learned, how each challenge was tackled, and the overall success of Odisha’s recipe for drinking water transformation. The book can be found at www.amazon.in/People-First-Odishas-Mission-Quenched/dp/9390260930

Odisha’s progress rolling out 24×7 Drink from Tap

Lessons from the DFT initiative

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Meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of delivering clean and affordable drinking water to all (SDG 6.1) has been a huge challenge for China, with 500 million people living in 670,000 rural villages. One of the difficulties was the huge variation in the quantity, quality, and accessibility of water resources in different regions of China. Major drinking water challenges in rural areas include shortages of water resources, low quality source water, outdated facilities, and a lack of operators. In some western areas, people had to walk dozens of kilometres to fetch water, and collecting water had become routine for many. Water-related diseases occurred in the regions using groundwater contaminated with arsenic or fluoride.

The Chinese government has made great efforts to deliver water to people living in rural areas. Initial efforts mainly focused on the development of water resources, including the construction of water diversion canals and the digging of deep wells. Adsorptive removal technologies have been introduced to remove arsenic and excess fluoride, but many of the initial efforts failed because of the short lifespan of the adsorbents and the need for frequent regeneration.

The first five-year plan to holistically resolve drinking water safety problems in rural areas was issued over the 11th National Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010) by the Ministry of Water Resources. This has been updated every five years, with investment largely coming from central government. But financial support was not distributed evenly, with preference being given to undeveloped regions, particularly those in western areas.

The most effective approach was to extend the urban water supply networks to the rural areas, which is now very popular in the eastern part of China, which has relatively high levels of economic development and population density. This model integrates urban and rural water supply systems, making it easier to achieve China’s ‘Five Unification’ goals:

• Same source water
• Same pipeline
• Same price
• Same quality
• Same service

For regions with a relatively low population density, the construction of centralised water supply systems is prioritised. This is called the ‘1000 tons for 10,000 people’ project.

It is now understood that sustainable water supplies can only be realised in rural areas when water supply systems reach such a scale. Small-scale and household water supply systems are only allowed to be constructed in areas with a very low population density.

Because of the difficulty of the construction and maintenance of small-scale systems, standardisation is of great importance, so that small-scale systems can be merged into larger ones when conditions are ripe.

It should be emphasised that collection of water bills is also very important for the development of a sustainable water supply model in rural areas. More than 80% of centralised water supply projects have succeeded in collecting water bills.

“standardisation is of great importance, so that small-scale systems can be merged into larger ones when conditions are ripe”

Transformational technologies

Since 2000, China has implemented a series of grant research projects focusing on drinking water science and technology development.

Disinfection has been a big challenge for small-scale water supply systems. Different types of disinfection equipment, which can generate disinfectants such as chlorine dioxide, chlorine gas, ozone, and ultraviolet light on site, have been developed and applied widely. Chlorine dioxide and chlorine generators are becoming popular because of their ability to keep residual disinfectants in the distribution systems.

For surface water, integrated water purification plants of different scales have been developed to ensure the quality of construction. All parts are manufactured in factories and assembled on site for ease of construction and standardisation.

Ultrafiltration membrane-based water purification plants have also attracted wide attention because of their efficient microbial removal and automation.

In the past, approximately 45 million people in China had to drink groundwater containing relatively high concentrations of iron and manganese. But this problem has now been resolved, with iron removed by contact or chemical oxidation, and manganese removed by contact or biological oxidation.

Arsenic and fluoride have long been the most serious health-related problems with regards to drinking water, not just in China, but across the world. In China, the arsenic and fluoride affected populations were 20 million and 80 million, respectively. Through long-term efforts, technologies for the removal of arsenic and fluoride have been established. Arsenic can be removed through one-step adsorption, precipitation, or reverse osmosis membrane separation. Fluoride can be removed by complexation adsorption, or reverse osmosis membrane separation.

International collaboration

To improve international cooperation, we established an international platform, the Chinese Academy of Sciences-The World Academy of Sciences (CAS-TWAS) Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CAS-TWAS CEWE) in 2013, with the aim of incubating talent, building capacity, engaging in joint research, and facilitating the transfer of technology to developing countries.

As a result, 79 PhD and MSc foreign students have obtained degrees through the CAS-TWAS CEWE platform. At the same time, we have established a water and sanitation training programme, which has accepted 242 trainees from 42 countries over the past 11 years.

Our work has resulted in the construction of dozens of decentralised water treatment systems in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iran, and other developing countries, either through joint research or technology transfer. One example is a chemical-free integrated system for surface water treatment, which was built in a village in Sri Lanka suffering from a lack of water purifying reagents. We also constructed a rainwater harvesting facility in Iran.

“Since 2000, China has implemented a series of grant research projects focusing on drinking water science and technology development”

Looking to the future – affordable water for all

Continuous efforts over the past 18 years have resulted in increased access to tapped water, rising from 36% to 88% by 2022. China has finally achieved its goal of providing affordable water for all. However, small-scale water supply systems are vulnerable to the environmental challenges caused by climate change and natural disasters. To remedy this, continuous efforts are required to further promote urban-rural water service integration, advanced water supply technologies, and standardised drinking water management. •

The four stages of China’s water development history

1949-1980 Quantity assurance:

Construction of dams, canals and wells

1980-2005 Disease prevention:

Disinfection; arsenic and iron removal

2005-2015 System upgrading:

Advanced technology and model innovation

2015-2022 Poverty eradication:

Capacity enhancements and quality improvements

Holistic approaches to delivering safe drinking water in rural areas

• National plan
• Investment policy
• Model optimisation
• Technology development
• Enhancement management systems

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“The water sector needs to reply quickly and implement technologies that can actively mitigate climate change impacts and deliver net zero targets,” says Programme Committee co-chair Professor Ana Soares, an IWA Fellow and Professor of Biotechnology Engineering at the UK’s Cranfield Water Science Institute. “This conference will be pivotal – enabling knowledge to be exchanged, good practice to be shared, and discussions to be had about how to address these challenges, utilising the very latest innovations.”

This year’s edition in Essen will be held on 24-28 June and follows on from last year’s successful edition in Daegu, South Korea.

Closing the water cycle

The overarching theme of this year’s LET is ‘Closing the water cycle through efficient and innovative technologies’. The technical programme will focus on microcontaminant monitoring and removal, developments in digitalisation, membrane technology, hybrid systems and new materials, advancements in desalination, resource recovery and sludge treatment, carbon and energy neutrality and greenhouse gas emissions, and innovative processes, all with the aim of finding sustainable, smart, water management solutions. “With this 2024 event, we aim to shed light on pressing issues surrounding imbalances in water availability, the management of pollutants and micropollutants, and the pivotal role of technological advancements in wastewater treatment and sludge management for fostering sustainability in the water sector,” says Soares.

Essen – a city of heritage and environmental transformation

With a rich history and reputation as an environmental hub – winning the title of European Green Capital in 2017 for its successful transformation from a city of coal mining to becoming one of the greenest cities in Germany – Essen promises to be an ideal host for this prestigious event.

In addition to its Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (a UNESCO World Heritage site that celebrates Essen’s mining heritage), visitors to the city can explore Villa Hügel, a 19th-century mansion built by the industrialist Alfred Krupp, set in the middle of a 28-hectare park overlooking Lake Baldeney; enjoy water sports on the lake – an eight-kilometre reservoir – boasting a 14-kilometre cycle track; or view 19th century paintings and sculptures, modern art and photography, at the esteemed Folkwang museum.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with esteemed partners Ruhrverband, Emschergenossenschaft Lippeverband, and Gelsenwasser to orchestrate and deliver LET2024,” continues Soares. “Essen’s significance in the water sector stems from its strategic position within the densely populated and industrially robust Ruhr region. Here, water supply, wastewater treatment, and environmental management are paramount concerns, with institutions like Ruhrverband at the forefront of sustainable water resource management.

“Essen’s rich industrial heritage, exemplified by iconic sites like the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, underscores the critical role water has always played in the region. Leveraging Essen’s unique nexus of innovation, water, industry, and academia, LET2024 promises to be a dynamic platform where delegates can glean insights and foster meaningful engagement.”

Supporting innovation

“LET has at its core the ambition to bring the water sector together to deliver real innovation in practice and in the field, and this is very much the case for this 19th edition,” adds Soares.

“Our mission is not only to convene industry leaders and experts, but also to ignite meaningful conversations, catalyse transformative solutions, and inspire collective action towards a more resilient and sustainable water future.”

More information

Registration is open for the 19th Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies. To secure your place at this influential global event, register at: https://iwa-let.org/

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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – working as a global partnership. The SDGs are interconnected, to be pursued as an integrated set of priorities, rather than individually. Within this framework, water is a common currency linking nearly every SDG. Water is a critical determinant of success in achieving targets in most SDGs – energy, cities, health, the environment, disaster risk management, food security, poverty, and climate change, among others.

Cities and towns concentrate and magnify many of the key challenges captured by the SDGs. The convergence of three factors is influencing cities globally: climate change, rapid urbanisation and water security challenges. Water security encompasses a wide spectrum of challenges including access to water supply, access to sanitation, affordability, drainage and flood management, and environmental degradation. These challenges manifest differently in developed and developing country contexts, but, importantly, we cannot ignore the interconnections and interplays between the SDGs. There are synergies, but also unintended consequences of directing actions at individual goals. Rather than adopt conventional urban water servicing approaches, we have an opportunity to direct future investments into well placed, efficient and resilient infrastructure by adopting an integrated urban water management framework. Contemporary urban development strategies are creating hybrid systems that combine critical existing infrastructure with flexible decentralised solutions that can be tailored for local conditions. This approach enables the progressive resilience and climate adaptive strengthening of cities.

Integrated urban water management

Integrated urban water management (IUWM) is a way of using water to make our cities and towns more sustainable and resilient. In this context, ‘integrated’ has three aspects:

• Integrating different water services (water supply, sewerage, drainage and flood management, and environmental protection)
• Integrating water infrastructure planning and design
• Integrating water system administration/governance

Reorienting existing infrastructures, institutions and capacities towards this new integrated approach is the key challenge for the urban renewal of developed cities, while greenfield land development projects are guided by new development guidelines.

Importantly, these new guidelines for contemporary urban water consider factors that influence broader social and technical issues of urban liveability and efforts to ‘green’ cities.

These provide a vision of holistic urban water management across the physical and social dimensions of:

• Water availability and fit for purpose potable and non-potable uses, and industrial and agricultural production
• Safety from flooding hazards
• Safety from waterborne diseases and urban heat
• Improved health and wellbeing associated with environmental biodiversity and ecological health
• Social cohesion associated with the amenity value of public spaces and local, community led responses to threats (for example, floods) and opportunities (for example, restoring waterways)

Cities must look beyond the urban administrative boundaries, to the management of upstream water sources and consider the impacts downstream on other human settlements and the environment.

IUWM includes an objective of aligning urban development with basin management to ensure sustainable economic, social, and environmental relations along the urban-rural continuum. This means actively connecting cities with their basins through a ‘Source to Sea, Catchment to Consumer or Ridge to Reef’ approach that considers the wider hydrological and natural water system on which a city depends and influences. IUWM therefore requires urban water managers to adopt a water stewardship role. They can do this by aligning urban activities with wider integrated water resource management at the basin scale. By proactively taking part in basin management, the city secures water, food and energy resources, protects water quality, and increases resilience to extreme events. Implementing appropriate and sustainable solutions in line with governance in cities and their basins means working towards public policy coherence and efficient water management across administrative boundaries and sectors.

Water Sensitive Cities, Sponge Cities and Low Impact Development

Water initiatives with broader liveability objectives include Australia’s Water Sensitive Cities, China’s Sponge Cities, Singapore’s ABC Waters, the United States’ Low Impact Development, and Vancouver’s Rain City Strategy.

By combining innovative technology with social and institutional initiatives, this vision aims to change community behaviour and the institutional arrangements that determine infrastructure investment and operation. It has fostered hybrid infrastructure solutions that combine conventional engineering infrastructure with new, flexible, decentralised approaches, including nature-based solutions. Hybrid solutions that combine conventional (or grey) and nature-based (or green) infrastructure are known as grey-green infrastructure.

As the challenges cities face become more complex, we must embrace the complexity rather than retain a reductionist approach of analysing and describing the complex interplay of the many constituents contributing to, or affected by, these challenges as isolated components. Many of our past efforts to address issues such as water security have time and again yielded unintended consequences and sub-optimal solutions. Embracing this complexity involves acknowledging uncertainties and recognising that we may not have all the answers. But doing so provides a strong foundation for adaptation, learning and growth.

Although effective, IUWM is not yet business as usual. Any city can face barriers in implementing integrated and inclusive approaches. These barriers include resistance to change, poverty and marginalisation, fragmented responsibilities, lack of legislative mandate, lack of experience in engaging the whole community and lack of funding. Key reform initiatives include:

• Outcome focused policies that clearly articulate performance objectives and targets associated with IUWM and the potential multiple benefits derived. These need to be context specific and fit for purpose for the local environment, reflecting regional biophysical analyses and be based on community led deliberations.
• Multifunctional public spaces, for example, regional and local public open spaces and corridors, including local streets and parks.
• Planning and urban development policies that encourage hybrid infrastructure, particularly green infrastructure in private sector urban developments.
• We need co-investment across government agencies and through public-private agreements. However, this only makes sense if there is an economic framework that clearly articulates costs and benefits.
• Improved coordination between local governments to protect catchments, allocate water, and manage drainage in not only urban areas, but also the surrounding rural areas. Cities can take an active role as water stewards in protecting and investing in water resources in their basins.

The Urban WaterGuide

The Australian Government, Australian Water Partnership and the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities partnered to develop a framework to improve and mainstream the implementation of IUWM in international cities and towns, based on Australia’s urban water experience. First published in 2017 as an Australian contribution to the High-Level Panel on Water, a two-year initiative (2016-18) by the UN and the World Bank to accelerate progress on achieving SDG6, the Urban WaterGuide covers water supply, sanitation, drainage, flooding, waterways and urban liveability, with a cross-cutting focus on gender equality and inclusion. In 2018, a revised edition was published and launched at the 2018 World Water Forum. The Urban WaterGuide has been used as a tool to share Australia’s experience of managing water scarcity with other countries, including Uzbekistan, Jordan, Mexico, Senegal, and Iran.

The Urban WaterGuide outlines how these barriers are being addressed in Australia, and by Australians working on international projects.

The five parts include:

1 A vision that frames urban water challenges in terms of city wide and inclusive community level outcomes: water is an enabler of a wide variety of outcomes in a city and it is important for the water sector and diverse stakeholders to have a say and a clear line of sight to this broader purpose.

2 A strategy that describes how the city can move to more integrated management of the urban water cycle: harnessing the whole of the water cycle to deliver the vision and to open new pathways to deliver services for the whole community.

3 Hybrid on the ground solutions that take the concept of creating value to a project level, detailing how projects can be multifunctional rather than monofunctional.

4 Practical ways to co-fund and de-risk the implementation of the new agenda so that actions can be delivered on the ground and citizens can enjoy the benefits.

5 Gaining permission for change to occur by building political and community support for new initiatives.

A city can implement IUWM by working on any one of these parts, before moving onto the other parts: the sequence is less important than the actions. For instance, a city may wish to invest in more multifunctional infrastructure (Part 3). Following this, the city may see a need for greater co-investment in these new systems (Part 4) and notice that co-investment is much easier to achieve when there is a shared vision (Part 1).

Inclusive collaboration is also fundamental to the success of integrated solutions and is included as a cross-cutting theme. In the Urban WaterGuide, inclusion is considered through a lens of gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI). The guide helps practitioners identify GEDSI stakeholders, their different needs to access and use water resources, their role in decision-making and the barriers they might experience and how to address them.

Moving ahead

Many cities have begun the journey to implement IUWM. These ambitious undertakings represent a global series of ‘living labs’ that can incubate new ideas, adapt the IUWM concept to different contexts and pilot real-life projects from which others can learn.

As an industry, our focus is on moving towards making these IUWM initiatives the ‘new normal’, by mainstreaming the practices that help us manage the complex task of adapting historical urban water systems to make them future ready. By connecting these efforts and encouraging cities to learn from each other using tools such as the Urban WaterGuide to share insights, we can accelerate this transition. •

More information

Urban WaterGuide at: waterpartnership.org.au/publications/

Deconstructing water sensitivity: experiences from global cities. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science at: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/592/1/012012

The authors

Professor Tony Wong is chief executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, Australia

Jamie Ewert is mainstreaming leader at Water Sensitive Cities, Australia

Katharine Cross is strategy and partnerships lead at the Australian Water Partnership

Find out about IWA’s work on Water-Wise Cities here.

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