The global event for water professionals covering the full water cycle. The event is designed to bring together over 10,000 water professionals from academia, utilities, industry, government, regulators, and NGOs, as well as engage the water-consuming industry, agriculture, architects and urban planners, hydrologists and soil and groundwater experts, social sciences, ICT-sector, the financial sector, and others.
Main topic this year: Shaping Our Water Future
Themes include
WATER UTILITY MANAGEMENT
Track 1
Utility corporate performance and management
• The digital water utility (data management);
• Customer management and engagement;
• Trade waste (industry inflows) management;
• Utility efficiency and benchmarking;
• Utility-wide performance management and optimization approaches;
• Utility-scale water savings and reuse initiatives;
• Net-zero and carbon neutral urban water services;
• Public-private sector water utility cooperation
Performance optimization and resource recovery management
• Utility-wide plant performance and optimization approaches Water savings and reuse;
• Utility-scale water savings and reuse initiatives;
• Net-zero and carbon neutral urban water services;
• Circular economy initiatives at utility level;
• Utility responses and adaptation to climate change impacts Infrastructure and assets
• Asset management and optimization;
• Infrastructure rehabilitation;
• Sewer overflow management at utility level;
• Integration of decentralised solutions in a centralised system
Policy and social aspects, crisis management
• Economic and financial drivers to create beneficial community outcomes;
• Interactions of utilities with local and regional government agencies;
• Outbreak management – learning from crisies;
• Management of extreme events (earthquakes, floods, bushfires, major accidents and attacks etc).
WASTEWATER & RESOURCE RECOVERY
Track 2
Biological wastewater treatment
• Nutrient removal;
• Anaerobic processes;
• Activated sludge processes;
• Biofilm and granular sludge processes;
• Membrane bioreactors;
• Microbial ecology (communities, metaomics);
• Water reclamation for non-potable reuse;
• Energy efficiency and recovery;
• Recovery of nutrients and chemicals;
• Industry recycling and cross-industry synergies;
• Bio-electrochemical processes Physicochemical treatment
• Membrane applications in wastewater management;
• Advanced oxidation processes;
• Nanomaterials and nanotechnology;
• Other physico-chemical treatment techniques
Dedicated treatment
• Treatment and recovery of industrial wastewater;
• Biosolids management and reuse;
• Emerging contaminants (micropollutants, pharmaceuticals, microplastics,…);
• Decentralised treatment and non-sewered sanitation;
• Large wastewater treatment plants
Processes in sewage collection systems
• Sewer corrosion and odour management;
• Sewer infiltration/exfiltration;
• Wastewater epidemiology (viruses, bacteria, other pathogens);
• Tracing of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals (illicit drugs etc.) in sewer systems;
• Trade waste (industry inflows) management
Digital wastewater treatment
• Instrumentation, control and automation;
• Modelling treatment processes and integrated systems
DRINKING WATER & POTABLE REUSE
Track 3
Drinking water production
• Unit operations (coagulation, (bio) filtration, membrane processes, activated carbon, ozonation…);
• Groundwater-based drinking water supply;
• Decentralized solutions and production based on multiple water sources (e.g. rainwater, stormwater etc.);
• Potable reuse technologies;
• Taste and odour management/removal;
• Removal of emerging contaminants;
• Disinfection techniques and byproducts management
Distribution systems
• Distribution piping (house/building plumbing, metal and plastic leaching etc.);
• Non-revenue water and leakage management;
• Biofilms and pathogen management in water distribution;
• Microbiology and biofilms;
• Intermittent supply system challenges and optimization
Microbial quality, detection and management of contaminants
• Pathogen detection and management plumbing, metal and plastic leaching etc.;
• Disinfection techniques and byproducts management;
• Emerging microbial contaminants/
pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria/genes;
• Microbial and chemical risk assessment including toxicology
Management, policy and social aspect
• Water quality standards, regulations and economics;
• Disaster management and water safety plans;
• Water quality outbreak management – learning from crisis;
• Water demand management and use efficiency;
• Communication with stakeholders;
• Microbial and chemical risk assessment including toxicology
Digital drinking water
• Monitoring and control;
• Data management and data security;
• IoT initiatives, data and hardware integration;
• Modelling treatment processes and systems
CITY-SCALE PLANNING & OPERATIONS
Track 4
Planning
• Integration of water management and urban planning;
• Modelling and other decision-support tools for urban water planning;
• Resilience planning and design;
• Impact of urban (re)development and densification on water management;
• Impacts and mitigation of climate change
Infrastructure and operations
• Modelling/optimisation of water supply and sewer networks and processes;
• Sewer infiltration-inflows, unintended sewer in-/overflows;
• Rehabilitation and retrofitting of water and wastewater infrastructure;
• Rainwater, stormwater and urban drainage;
• Urban scale groundwater mapping, monitoring and modelling;
• Water-energy interactions in the urban water cycle.
Digital water cities
• Sensors, instrumentation and IoT in urban systems;
• From data to information to decision;
• Data management, accessibility and security;
• Use of weather radar, numerical weather prediction, drones and remote sensing
Water wise cities
• Nature-based solutions, sponge cities and blue/green infrastructure;
• Water-sensitive urban design and hybrid centralised/decentralised solutions;
• Transitioning to and implementation of sustainable and water wise cities;
• Quantification of economic, human and environmental benefits of water wise solutions;
• City-scale challenges and solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
COMMUNITIES, COMMUNICATION & PARTNERSHIP
Track 5
Collaboration, capacity building and communication
• Community, customer and stakeholder engagement and communication at local level;
• Community behaviour change–methods, communication and incentives;
• Community-focused decision making;
• Resilience planning across the water cycle and the community;
• Collaboration of local and regional government agencies with water service providers
Digital transformation
• Impacts of digital transformation on society, citizens, and businesses;
• Customer management and engagement using digital tools;
• Integration/management of databases across urban and water system
Policy and regulation
• Cost of water, pricing and incentives;
• Regulation coordination across agencies (economic, environmental, services etc.);
• Incentives and drivers to enable change;
• System thinking and planning;
• Environmental impact assessment based planning
Cross-sectorial governance
• Enabling health, well-being and liveability outcomes;
• Life with water, art and architecture;
• Entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships;
• Cross-institutional coordination and collaboration;
• Partnerships and cooperation in and beyond the water sector;
• Water management in industries
WASH and community-scale water management
• Community-based water supply and management;
• Small-scale/decentralised sanitation solutions at community level;
• Pandemic/crisis management in developing countries
WATER RESOURCES & LARGE SCALE WATER MANAGEMENT
Track 6
Groundwater
• Groundwater mapping, monitoring and modelling;
• Protection of groundwater quality and quantity;
• Soil contamination and groundwater remediation;
• Governance, management and institutional arrangements.
Surface water
• Surface water monitoring systems and models;
• Protection of surface water quality and quantity;
• Source-to-sea pollution management;
• Pollution from point sources – agriculture, industry, urban;
• Diffuse pollution – sources and mitigation;
• Water-related ecosystems and environmental flows
Integrated water resource management
• Water stress, droughts and floods, including impact of climate change;
• Catchment management and natural capital approaches on different scales;
• Large-scale nature-based solutions and biodiversity;
• Water rights, trading and partnerships;
• Water resource management and adaptation to climate change impacts
Holistic assessments and approaches
• Life cycle assessment, water efficiency, water footprint, virtual water, etc.;
• Planetary boundaries and science of sustainability;
• Water resource management towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• Circular economy initiatives and approaches;
• Challenges and progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Event Details
