IWA World Water Congress Daily LISBON, PORTUGAL WEDNESDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2014 ‘THE PEOPLE WHO MOST INFLUENCE THE PUBLIC VIEW OF SAFE WATER FOR THE FUTURE ARE MOTHERS.’ SUE MURPHY Governance The need for a policy focus on governance G overnance is key if current and future water challenges are to be met, according to Portugal’s Professor Francisco Nunes Correia. He is Professor of Environment and Water Resources at Instituto Superior Tecnico, President of There are further challenges – Correia points to the administrative and political fragmentation that exists in the realm of water, noting that ‘this raises the question of how we reconcile the different levels – national, regional and river basin.’ ‘IF WE WANT TO MOVE TOWARDS GOOD GOVERNANCE IT IS IMPORTANT TO STREAMLINE SOME PRINCIPLES AND HAVE SOME INDICATORS.’ the Portuguese Water Partnership, and has wide expertise to back his remarks – among other key posts, he used to be Portugal’s Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Regional Development, during which time he instituted a new water law and related institutional changes. Correia, who will be giving this afternoon’s keynote at the Congress, points to a number of reasons – social, political and some that address risks and natural resources – why governance is increasingly important. Financial governance is a part of this – Portugal has gone through a difficult financial crisis, like much of Europe. ‘This has required us to do more with less, organisations have had to be more effective and efficient, and structured to achieve this and be socially acceptable at the same time,’ Correia explains. Despite the downturn, countries need to invest more in water and wastewater as well as other infrastructure such as energy, which raises the question of cost sharing. ‘Who pays for what? Generations?’ he asks. ‘This is very important – Portugal has public debt that will last 40 years or more.’ Join the conversation ‘Flooding, drought, climate change and increasing demand, quality, quantity and regulation, all require better governance,’ he adds. ‘Water management is an animal that walks on two legs – one is investment in infrastructure and technology and the other is governance. If you paralyse one leg, it will stumble and fall – you need two.’ ‘If we want to move towards good governance it is important to streamline some principles and have some indicators so we know if we are moving towards them or not,’ he says. ■ #iwa2014lisbon @iwahq Charting a way forward for Water Safety Plans A great deal of progress has been made with the use of Water Safety Plans (WSPs) since the concept was introduced by the World Health Organisation a decade ago. Their success means there is now a great deal of interest in how they are taken forward, including the extension of the concept to Sanitation Safety Plans. An aim of this afternoon’s WSP workshop is therefore to chart a way forward for WSP use, says Dominique Gatel, chief technical officer at Veolia, who will chair the workshop. The development of tools in different languages based on or evolved from IWA’s WSP toolbox will help support further implementation, in addition to which the European Commission is studying the best way to include WSPs in its drinking water legislation, explains Gatel. ‘The inclusion of small supplies, which is a long-standing issue, will [make the use of WSPs] more effective,’ he adds. ‘Water Safety Planning in buildings will also have to be addressed and the Sanitation Safety Planning concept is also picking up speed. The second of the workshop sessions will focus on the progress that has been made since WSPs were introduced. Gatel explains that there were different responses to the introduction in 2004. ‘Some countries chose to make WSPs a legal obligation to water suppliers, which readily adapted to this new way of thinking,’ he says. ‘Other countries preferred to further deploy pre-existing elements of the WSP obligation, which were already in place. Now, ten years later, we can see that WSPs are effective when building on a pre-existing quality management and / or risk management culture. Pilot project or warm-up periods are instrumental in elaborating national approaches, mechanisms, tools, auditing schemes, etc. It is striking that no two countries adapt the WHO approach in the same manner.’ Communication is central to the WSP approach, he adds, defining this as being one of the greatest achievements the use of this approach has ‘IT IS STRIKING THAT NO TWO COUNTRIES ADAPT THE WHO APPROACH IN THE SAME MANNER.’ achieved. ‘Water Safety Planning is all about having a more transparent and shared approach to drinking water quality. It improves and professionalises the dialogue between water suppliers, authorities and customers.’ ‘Finally,’ he concludes, ‘there is the integration of water supply into integrated water resource management. IWRM and WSP differ in targets and scale of analysis, but basically speak the same language: they naturally complement one another, and more integration and interfacing will take place, since WSPs by definition have roots in safe and protected resources.’ ■ The WSP workshop will be in room 3C. An open meeting of the Water Safety Planning Specialist Group will take place today in room 3C at 12:15-13:00. IWA / ISME BioCluster launch Tomorrow morning in room 5A the IWA / ISME BioCluster will be launched in a workshop on biotechnology and its applications. Professor Dr Hans-Curt Flemming of the Univeristy of Duisburg-Essen, who will co-chair the session, says that they ‘want to make the BioCluster a little more prominent, because what is obvious is that people from different societies, from different “tribes”, have started to talk to one another and the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) has a lot of knowledge about how microorganisms function, how they interact, and how they can be used and manipulated, and this is exactly what people from IWA need in order to engineer microorganisms or keep them at bay.’ The winners of the first BioCluster awards will also give presentations at the workshop: Bruce Rittmann who has won the lifetime achievement award, and Mari Winkler who is a ‘rising star’, says Flemming. Principal sponsor Platinum sponsors Institutional sponsors IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Lisbon 2014 Utility performance Sustainability Supporting a shift to stakeholder engagement Power plant cooling towers. The power sector is a major stakeholder in the water sector hxdyl / shutterstock.com ater utilities understand that there is a need for sustainable solutions. What is increasingly being recognised is that these are not just technical options that utilities choose – they are solutions that are identified, developed and implemented with stakeholders. ‘In order to meet expectations and W ‘ Sharing experiences of interacting with stakeholders is therefore valuable for utilities, and this is exactly what a workshop this afternoon will allow. ‘In order to find sustainable solutions, it is essential to make stakeholder engagement an active and collaborating process where we together find better solutions,’ ‘IN ORDER TO FIND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO MAKE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AN ACTIVE AND COLLABORATING PROCESS.’ find better solutions to new (and old) problems, it is necessary to think outside of the engineer box, and interact with our stakeholders – our users, our customers, different organizations, NGOs, industry, etc.,’ comments Kari Elisabeth Fagernæs, chief customer officer at Oslo Water. continues Fagernæs, who will chair the workshop sessions. ‘We also wish to raise awareness and interest for what we do. ■ The stakeholder workshop will be in room 1.07 this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Helping utilities take the first steps towards better performance N owadays, with the constant pressure to do better with less, one issue shared by all water utilities worldwide, whatever their circumstances, is the challenge of how to improve performance,’ comments Nuno Brôco, director of engineering at Aguas de Portugal (AdP). ‘In recent years, benchmarking has emerged as a tool and framework to achieve this and is therefore of significance for all those responsible for providing water and wastewater services,’ he continues. ‘This makes it relevant to the utilities themselves, but also to those charged with managing the sector, like holding companies, regulators and others with a global vision of the sector.’ It is because of this fundamental importance that a workshop is taking place this morning aimed specifically at those who are new to performance assessment and benchmarking, to explain the benchmarking process, methodology and key outcomes. One question for the workshop will be how to develop guidelines for developing countries. This needs to take account of the fact that disruptions leading to partial or total loss of data can mean information is incomplete, explains Brôco. ‘Performance indicators should be specifically designed for each reality,’ he adds, explaining that there is no need to benchmark mains rehabilitation, which is a common performance indicator in developing countries, in a developing country where the infrastructure is only just being built. Brôco will be bringing to the workshop extensive experience from AdP’s work in Portugal’s water, wastewater and waste management sector, where it operates over 200 water treatment plants and over 1000 wastewater treatment plants through 20 regional companies. ‘You can imagine how useful it can be to have a ‘ONE ISSUE SHARED BY ALL WATER UTILITIES WORLDWIDE IS THE CHALLENGE OF HOW TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.’ good benchmarking and performance assessment amongst all of the group’s companies,’ he says. Each of the speakers will bring their own experiences of benchmarking and performance assessment, he adds, with discussion around questions such as: ‘What is the added value of benchmarking for your business?’ ‘What are the critical factors that must co-exist in any model?’ ‘What is the critical size for benchmarking?’ and ‘What changes are needed in benchmarking models to increase efficiency?’ ‘The aim of this workshop is not the comparison between the methodologies used by the different invited entities, but to find common aspects and common difficulties and, I hope, share experiences,’ he concludes. ■ The workshop on benchmarking is being held in Auditorium 4 this morning. Resource recovery Research provides the key to the future of the water sector ‘ esource recovery from wastewater and sludge will be key to the future development of the water and wastewater industry,’ says Professor Banu Örmeci of Carleton University in Canada. ‘There R ‘RESOURCE RECOVERY FROM WASTEWATER AND SLUDGE WILL BE KEY TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WATER AND WASTEWATER INDUSTRY.’ are many issues in sludge treatment and reuse that require smart solutions and this is truly an exciting field to be in.’ Developments are taking place in areas such as recovering fuel from wastewater sludge, microbial communities, removal of substances such as heavy metals, and new techniques for enhancing sludge treatment, all of which will be covered in technical sessions taking place on biosolids treatment and beneficial reuse today. ‘We have finally come to a point that sludge is not seen as a waste but regarded as a valuable resource,’ adds Örmeci. ‘New technologies are focusing on the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Lisbon 2014 recovery of energy, nutrients, heavy metals, bioplastics and other bioproducts, while achieving treatment goals.’ Örmeci says that the technical sessions are important for allowing discussion of the growing global challenge of sludge treatment and management. Current areas of development and research include harvesting the energy value in sludge through anaerobic digestion and thermal processes, pretreatment of sludge and co-digestion with other materials to increase biogas and revenues, conversion to energy products such as biofuels, nutrient and resource recovery, sludge minimisation technologies, and sustainable and green technologies that do not increase the carbon footprint of the plant. ■ The wastewater sludge / biosolids technical session takes place in room 5C. Resource Recovery Cluster An open meeting of the just-launched Resource Recovery Cluster will take place today in Room 0.08 and will run from 12:00-13:30 Development Regulation Cross-sector lessons on regulation he first International Water Regulators Forum, which has taken place at the Congress, has provided a significant new platform to share the sector’s challenges and opportunities and also enhance cross-sector regulatory communication. ‘[A cross-sector regulatory platform] is challenging because the problems are different, but an opportunity because we can learn from the different experiences. These are areas we can develop together. This first Water Regulator’s Forum is an opportunity to move forward, learning from each other and sharing experiences and knowledge,’ says Turkey’s Alparslan Bayraktar, of ERRA, the Energy Regional Regulators Association. He also stressed the need for all stakeholders to understand that they have a part to play in dealing with sector issues. ‘The regulators’ role as policymakers takes willingness and commitment and is crucial in dealing with climate change, and water and energy security. But all stakeholders to a degree have responsibility – if we can’t include T them in the whole picture we can’t be successful.’ Manuel Alvarinho of Mozambican regulator ESWAS agreed with a general consensus that the Forum should be kept alive and should take place again in two years’ time. He noted: ‘The job of being a regulator is very risky, and in Africa it is the worst, because the concept of independent regulation depends very much on the context of where the regula- tor operates. There is often a feeling of isolation. In Africa, regulation is a strange animal – we need to put the strange animals together.’ ■ Cleantech Water at the heart of cleantech opportunities ater is not the only resource under growing pressure around the world – many others are too. This, and the fact that water is central to many sectors, such as agriculture and energy, places water at the heart of future cleantech opportunities. W ‘AS BOTH CAPITAL AND RESOURCES CONTINUE TO BE CONSTRAINED, THERE ARE STRONG DRIVERS TO DO MORE WITH LESS.’ ‘As both capital and resources continue to be constrained, there are strong drivers to do more with less,’ comments Paul O’Callaghan, of O2 Environmental. ‘The industrial sector will embrace this as it reduces costs and thereby helps drive profit to the bottom line.’ The original renewables focus of cleantech has been set back by the 2008 financial crisis and by the growth of unconventional fossil fuels, explains O’Callaghan. ‘Since then, the cleantech area has since been reinventing itself to focus more on efficiency gains, lowering energy use, deriving value from waste and also from wastewater and water reuse.’ O’Callaghan, who is moderating this morning’s cleantech plenary discussion, says that ‘the silos are being broken down between waste and water, creating new opportunities for innovative business models, value propositions and technologies. There is a fusion of organic waste management and wastewater treatment, deriving value from by-products.’ He adds that he would like to see discussions taking place at the cleantech forum on water avoidance and how to provide water services without using water. ‘The world is addicted to freshwater,’ he concludes. ‘But we can flush toilets with seawater and wash our hands with sanitizer.’ ■ Africa: a catalyst of change T he rapid urbanisation taking place in Africa requires the development and implementation of solutions to meet the unique needs of populations across the continent. Because of this, the region represents a catalyst for change. ‘Africa’s water sector is unique as a result of unique challenges,’ explains Sarah Tibatemwa, director of the IWA’s regional office there. ‘[Although] the challenges in Africa’s water sector are very similar to those found in other developing regions... cities may grow in a different way to other regions in the world,’ she adds. ‘Suddenly, African leaders are realising that there is a need for holistic water resource management to ensure sustainability.’ With all this in mind, today’s Africa Forum will look at: the future of African cities; policy, regulation and investment; and cooperation with research institutions to build capacity, in three separate sessions. ‘Africa is struggling to meet the MDGs on water sanitation, with less than a year to go, mainly as a result of climate change,’ says Tibatemwa. Water source pollution and protection is the main challenge to be faced, she explains, followed by fragmented water resources management ‘that leaves a lot to be desired in most countries’. For water utilities, ageing networks and infrastructure, serving unplanned settlements, managing non-revenue water and dealing with the impacts of climate change on water sources are all significant issues. However, she adds that these challenges can be seen an opportunity for the Africa’s water professionals to get involved and work on home-grown solutions, supported by the international sector. The Forum will provide African water professionals with a platform to present case studies and share knowledge between researchers and practitioners. ‘I will also encourage participants in ‘AFRICA’S WATER SECTOR IS UNIQUE AS A RESULT OF UNIQUE CHALLENGES.’ positions of authority in their institutions / government to commit to implementing some practical recommendations as a way forward,’ concludes Tibatemwa. ■ Today’s Africa Forum is in room 1.08 Kibera slums, Nairobi, Kenya Aleksandar Todorovic / shutterstock.com Further success for Watershare Leading Greek technology and engineering university National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) yesterday became a strategic, platinum partner of the Watershare initiative of KWR of The Netherlands, with a signing taking place at the Congress. ‘This is a milestone for our water research and development strategy,’ said NTUA’s Christos Makropoulos, who presented the university’s work and potential role within Watershare at the Congress. ‘We have been doing excellent research over the years, but have always struggled with getting our tools known and adopted by the water industry – both in Greece and abroad. We think Watershare is the way forward for us.’ Watershare is a global network in which selected knowledge institutes from all over the world share their expert water-related R&D tools. Wim van Vierssen, CEO of KWR, commented: ‘We had great expectations when we conceptualized and started to implement Watershare. But sometimes theory and practice don’t match. We are therefore extremely pleased to see how it really gets momentum now.’ IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Lisbon 2014 Water resources Priority needs of groundwater - the hidden resource roundwater is crucial to human needs, but overuse and continuing contamination mean there is a need for better protection and management, as well as technical solutions. ‘Groundwater contamination should remain a key issue worldwide,’ says Dr Klaasjan Raat, senior scientific researcher – geohydrology at KWR Watercycle Research Institute. He illustrates this with reference to The Netherlands, which has ‘extensive European and national legislation protecting its groundwater and surface waters, yet still water quality is negatively impacted in various ways.’ Contamination can come from obvious activities such as the application of G wet season and store it in the subsurface for use later on,’ says Raat. ‘Apply clever water well management to prevent upconing of saltwater to freshwater wells. Seawater desalination is often a too easy answer to salinity problems; there are better, more cost and energy efficient solutions. As for the more “classical” groundwater contaminations like leachates from agriculture, landfills, and industrial sites: we have come a long way, thanks to increased awareness, legislation, remediation, monitoring, and understating of our groundwater systems. However, we need to think now how to deal with new activities in the subsurface, like aquifer thermal energy storage.’ Groundwater research is evolving, says ‘OPENING UP THE SUBSURFACE FOR OTHER ACTIVITIES IS NOT WITHOUT RISKS FOR WATER QUALITY.’ Huguette Roe / shutterstock.com fertiliser to agricultural land, as well as less obvious ones. ‘What unknown organics (including metabolites!) are leaching from our landfills?’ asks Raat, who is chairing a technical session on groundwater contamination this afternoon. Naturally-occurring substances such as arsenic can be of concern, as well as the intrusion of salt water. There are a range of options that can contribute to integrated solutions. ‘Harvest the rainwater in cities during the Raat, with his own research work being ‘focused more and more on how we can actually use the subsurface, both for storage and treatment of water.’ ‘Opening up the subsurface for other activities is not without risks for water quality,’ he points out. ‘What are the risks, and how are we going to deal with them, also in terms of legislation and regulation? There is no reason to take it easy: our groundwater resources deserve protection for generations to come.’ ■ IWA World Water Congress Daily prepared by: Editorial team Keith Hayward - [email protected] Catherine Fitzpatrick, Lis Stedman Paul Bell (IWA) - [email protected] Published in partnership with: IWA Head Office Alliance House, 12 Caxton Street, London SW1H 0QS, UK. T: +44 (0)20 7654 5500 E: [email protected] W: www.iwa-network.org Printed by: IDG, Lisbon © 2014 International Water Association The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of IWA or its Governing Assembly. IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Lisbon 2014 Book offer of the day Today’s IWA Publishing special online discount is for ‘Water Communication’ by Celine Herve-Bazin – available to purchase online today only for just £50 / €67.50. Through different examples, and based on research and contributions, this book presents an original first overview of what communication on water means, who communicates and on what topics. Email [email protected] quoting ‘IWAPLisbon’ to claim your discount! Human capacity Human capacity launches today T oday at 12:30 on the IWA stand (booth 221) the conclusions of IWA’s study into human resource capacity gaps will be released, called ‘An Avoidable Crisis: WASH Human Resource Capacity Gaps in 15 Developing Economies’. Kate Medlicott, Technical Officer – Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health, at WHO and IWA’s Cheikh Tidiane Fall, Coordinator of the West & Central Africa sub-region, will be commenting on the capacity gaps report. ‘The human resources capacity gap study was initiated in 2008 under the funding of DFID,’ explains Kirsten de Vette, IWA Programmes Officer. ‘An international reference group developed assessment methods to assess human resource capacity gaps at the national level. This was tested and piloted in five countries and the revised methodology was applied in another ten countries. So the synthesis report we will present brings everything together into one place.’ The latest edition of ‘A World of Opportunities – Working in the International Water Sector’ will also be launched. Eleanor Allen, Global Director Water at Arcadis, will be at the stand to discuss this. Alongside her, Tobias Barnard, Chair of the Young Water Professionals Committee, and Norhayati Binti Abdullah, past chair, will comment on what they think the career opportunities are in the sector and how more people can be attracted. ‘In line with this we are also touching on a new IWA project on women professionals in the urban water sector, so Norhayati will be explaining why it is so important to attract more women into the sector,’ adds de Vette. ■ The human capacity publications will be launched today at 12:30 Exhibition highlights Italmatch Chemicals (Booth 102), a Belgian manufacturer of specialist chemicals, is exhibiting its range of additives for water management systems. Its Dequest offerings include phosphonates for antiscalants, dispersants, corrosion inhibitors and chelants for various applications and P acrylic / maleic-based (co-) polymers. Spanish company Kamstrup (Booth140) supplies metering, collection and management of energy and water consumption data equipment for heat, cooling, electricity and water. Solutions include smart grid applications, intelligent energy and water meters, communication infrastructure for smart metering and data management systems. Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (Booth 298), a Japanese manufacturer, offers PTFE hollow fibre micro / ultrafiltration membranes with what it says is excellent mechanical strength, heat / chemical resistance. The membrane can offer a simple and cost effective solution to treat oil contaminated wastewater without any pre-treatment, says Sumitomo.