IWA’s Heritage

IWA 1947 – 2024

How Visionary Pioneers Created
a Global Water Network

By Paul Reiter, Gustaf Olsson, Helmut Kroiss

This account begins with what was originally a bottom-up, global-scale action, taken by world renown experts concerned with water pollution and drinking water treatment in the aftermath and reindustrialization of WWII. 

Two groups of leading water scientists, practitioners and engineers, concerned deeply about the human and ecological health of the world’s freshwater resources, formed the International Water Supply Association (IWSA) in 1947 and shortly thereafter, the International Association of Water Pollution Research (IAWPR) in 1962-65. Both organizations were formed entirely by their own members’ actions. From their inception, they were intended to be self-managed and self-funded – a fact that remains true more than 75 years later. 

IWSA was more focused on the specific task of providing safe, reliable, and high-quality drinking water supplies available to both municipalities and industries embedded in these communities throughout the world. IWSA members, who often shared comparably advanced educational backgrounds to their counterparts in IAWPR, were often employed by the municipal authorities responsible for providing drinking water to the large cities. In some cases, these authorities managed the entire water supply chain from source to tap. 

IAWPR whose name changed to IAWPRC (adding C for Control) in 1982 and again to IAWQ (International Association on Water Quality) in 1992, was focused more broadly on “used” water, the science and technology of water pollution mitigation and the long-term societal strategies for pollution abatement. At the time, a wastewater industry had not yet materialized. Not surprisingly then, the majority of the IAWPR early members were based in academic institutions and research laboratories. However, later a great number of practitioners joined, while the leadership mostly remained with academics.  

Though operating separately over the 1947-1999 period, and prior to their merger and the creation of the International Water Association (IWA) in 2000, both organizations’ work complemented one another. When viewed historically, they both had significant impact on the evolution of regional and global strategies related to best practice, water policy, and continental-level regulation of all aspects of water, most notably in Europe, North America, and Japan. 

IWSA – IAWQ – IWA: A Concise History

In anticipation of the three organizations reaching their 75/60/ and 22nd birthdays at the 2022 World Water Congress in Copenhagen in 2022, IWA President Tom Mollenkopf launched an initiative aimed at achieving long overdue objectives related to the introduction presented above.

In response, a concise history for IWA’s 75th birthday in 2022 was developed, titled “The Founding and Evolution of IWSA and IAWQ 1947 -1999 and the Creation of IWA in 2000 and its Evolution through 2015”. The ambition was and remains, to provide a concise account of the critical details of the motivations, origins, leaders, challenges, and major accomplishments of these organizations as they traversed the ensuing 75 years.

By almost any of these measures, the International Water Associations stands tall by comparison to all other international organizations operating in the water space, as presented in Part 2 of the document. Active participation in all its events involves 10,000+ participants per year from approximately 120-130 countries. There is on-average one IWA Specialist Group conference each week somewhere in the world. At the same time, IWA’s 15 highly regarded journals provide a huge reservoir of knowledge regarding just about any aspect of water science, technology, and management.

Read the Concise History here.

Honouring IWA’s Distinguished Departed Pioneers and Their Legacies in the IWA history

In a member-driven organization, the organization’s history is invariably about the people who conceived, built and maintained it. As the IWA History Document was presented at the IWA World Water Conference in Copenhagen in 2022, everyone present was reminded that:  

What made IWA the powerful organization that it is today, and continues to distinguish it from all others, is the strength and integrity of its members and leaders. 

This is as true today as it was over 75 years ago when IWSA and IAWPR were conceived and on their way to full functionality. 

Thanks to the gracious support of about 20 “Senior Leaders”, which included Past Presidents, Distinguished Fellows and key outside sources, the development of the IWA history was expanded to include the designation of approximately 50 pivotal leaders, now deceased, that guided the early years of both Associations. They have now been formally designated as Distinguished Departed Pioneers (DDP) and form the backbone of the second part of the document, The People Side of the IWA’s History.  

The history of IWA and its predecessors, as described in the IWA History document referenced above, reminds us of the scope of the global water challenges over the past 75+ years and the ability of individuals, communities, professional associations, nations and regions to solve overwhelming problems through collaborative action. 

The history of IWA and its predecessors are a direct reflection of these global water challenges. The second half of the 20th century was a unique period in the development of modern water systems in the industrialized world. In this post-WWII era, the explosive growth of both domestic and industrial waterborne pollution was scientifically defined, comprehensively addressed, and then largely mitigated in most of the industrialized countries. Beginning in 1962, IAWPR’s members, journals, global and specialized conferences were central to this endeavour. Both the organizations and the external environment co-evolved during this exceptional period. 

At the same time, water supply systems initiated in larger cities in the first half of the 20th century in high-income countries, were further built out and regionalized in smaller cities in the post WWII era. In large cities, earlier systems were rehabilitated, expanded and state-of-the-art control systems added. Disinfection regimes also matured and were standardized during this period. Like IAWPR, but beginning even earlier in 1947, IWSA members, journal and global and specialized conferences were key contributors to national, regional and global knowledge and standards development. 

The readers of this document can get acquainted with outstanding pioneers, now deceased, that helped shape solutions to all aspects of very challenging urban water problems in higher-income countries (drinking water, industrial and domestic wastewater and urban drainage) in this pivotal second half of the 20th century. This evolutionary process continues today in lower-income countries with heightened support and knowledge exchange from the global water community, including IWA. 

Explore the contributions of the Distinguished Departed Pioneers here.

Acknowledgements – initiative key contributors 

It is important to acknowledge the contribution of many individuals to this important initiative, the majority of which are IWA “Senior Leaders”, including Past Presidents, Distinguished Fellows and key outside sources. Many of these were central to the development of both IWA’s concise history and the Distinguished Departed Pioneer TPTs. They are listed below. 

Key contributors

Inspiration and Support 

Tom Mollenkopf, IWA President (following 2022 Copenhagen President’s Initiative)
Kala Vairavamoorthy, IWA Executive Director 

Development of IWA’s History and First-List of IWA Distinguished Departed Pioneers (DDPs) 

Researched, Compiled and Written by: Paul Reiter 

Major Contributors: Helmut Kroiss, Michael Rouse, David Garman, Glen Daigger,
Jerry Gilbert, Hallvard Odegaard, Joel Mallevialle, Jan Janssens, Saburo Matsui, Eugene Cloete, Willie Grabow, Hermann Hahn, Wolfgang Merkel, David Garman, Petr Grau, Vladamir Novotny, Helene Alegre, Enrique Cabrero 

Final Reviewers:  David Garman, Helmut Kroiss, Gustaf Olsson, Michael Rouse, Jan Janssens 

The IWA Distinguished Departed Pioneer Tailored Professional Tributes (TPTs) 

Layout: Paul Reiter, Gustaf Olsson, Helmut Kroiss
Delegation and Management: Paul Reiter with Norbert Jardin, Saburo Matsui, Glen Daigger, Michael Rouse, Theo Martijn, Theo van den Hoven, Joel Mallevialle, Diane D’Arraz, David Garman, Hallvard Odegaard
Final Editing: Gustaf Olsson and Helmut Kroiss 

Individual TPTs: Author(s) and contributors listed on each TPT 

Key support staff from the IWA HQ 

Keith Hayward (Initiative lead for IWA), Emma Gulseven, Keith Robertson