PICTURE
Left to right: IWA Executive Director Kala Vairavamoorthy, Sabrina Rashid Sheonty, Professor Joan Rose, Professor Juliet Willetts, and IWA President Tom Mollenkopf AO.

The International Water Association’s 2024 World Water Congress & Exhibition is under way in Toronto, Canada, with celebration of success in the global water sector taking centre stage.

The week-long event got off to a great start on Sunday, 11 August with the biennial meeting’s traditional Opening Ceremony. This was the occasion for revealing the winners of three prestigious awards.

Professor Joan Rose was announced as the recipient of the Global Water Award; Sabrina Rashid Sheonty won IWA’s Young Leadership Award; and Professor Juliet Willetts won the Gender Diversity and Water Award.

The 2024 edition of the biennial IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition runs from 11-15 August. It draws together individuals and organisations from across the globe who are working to advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. Focusing on the theme ‘Shaping our water future’, the event has particular relevance to the climate change agenda and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event features 200+ technical and workshop sessions, 400+ posters, 900+ presenters, and 250 exhibitors in the global exhibition. The programme also includes 9 keynote speakers.

Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill of the Six Nations highlighted the significant water and sanitation challenges faced by Indigenous communities across Canada. She stressed the ongoing battle for access to clean drinking water, a struggle that continues to impact the lives of many. She commented “I would like the IWA to fight for safe drinking water as a basic human right for everyone, but in doing so, ensure the inclusion of Indigenous voices from around the globe.”

The keynote speaker in the Opening Ceremony was world-renowned scientist, innovator, and communicator on water and climate issues, Dr Peter Gleick. He is co-founder of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California. His keynote described the Three Ages of Water – the title of his latest book – that traces water’s ‘prehistoric past, the power present and the hope for the future’. He said: “The core of my message is that we’re living in a remarkable time, a time when we’re in a transition from the challenges that we all are working on to a positive, sustainable future; what I call the Third Age of water. We need a new age of water. We need a new way of thinking and doing.”

As well as the three awards presented in the Opening Ceremony, IWA’s latest membership awards were revealed at the Presidents’ Dinner held on 10 August and hosted by IWA President Tom Mollenkopf and Congress President Peter Vanrolleghem.

The award of Honorary Membership of IWA was presented to Darryl Day of Australia, Jiuhui Qu of China, Anders Bækgaard of Denmark, and Cheryl Davis of the USA. IWA’s Outstanding Service Award was presented to Helle Katrine Andersen of Denmark and Jean-Luc Bertrand- Krajewski of France. IWA’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Water Management & Science went to Silver Mugisha of Uganda and Mathi Vathanan of India. The IWA Publishing Award was awarded to Professor Hong Ying Hu of China.