I recently attended the IWA World Water Congress 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of the Young Water Professionals Water Camp. It was a massive congress with over 10,000 delegates from around the world. The below is a summary of all the amazing things I did during the congress.
Day 1: Sunday
On Sunday I attended the congress opening ceremony and a World Water Camp networking session.
A massive highlight for me was our private session with Anders Bækgaard, Congress President, which was really inspiring. Anders asked us how many pairs of blue jeans we each own (50% of the world own them) but did you know it takes up to 10,000 litres to make a single pair?
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Day 2: Monday
Monday consisted for me of a morning Water Camp lecture about drinking water treatment, attending a couple of sessions on technologies and operations (including two presentation on biological stability, which I found especially interesting), attending a WaterAid networking session and a YWP as Future Leaders session at the Nordic Stand, a debate on the day and a YWP networking dinner. There was a Water Camp focus for the day on presentations. Our homework for the day was to choose and analyse a presenter on their presentation technique and to identify hot topics at the conference this year.
My 3 favourite bits were:
1. Attending the opening reception of the WaterAid photo exhibition about how climate change impacts access to clean water, presented by Adam Jacobi Møller and Rob Fuller.
2. Delivering a pitch on my work with QCL in the YWP as Future Leaders Session.
3. Finally, attending the #YWP networking dinner, sponsored by Ramboll and supported by the IWA YWPDK – Young Water Professionals Denmark.
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Day 3: Tuesday
Tuesday we had a morning lecture on wastewater treatment, I was rapporteur for a workshop in the first session, then I attended an Emerging Water Leader Forum, then I had a networking lunch with someone I am about to do some work with, followed by an informal meeting with someone I knew at the conference and then I attended a film screening and debate session with GRUNDFOS. The Water Camp focus for the day was networking-I certainly did a lot of that today! Our homework was to interview a delegate and to compare the different water challenges between developing and industrialised countries.
I prepared a video of the three delegated I interviewed. Thank you to Lindsay Selmes (Scottish Water), Maryam Imani (Anglia Ruskin University) and Jacob Amengor (Ghana Water Company Ltd.) for agreeing to help me!
I enjoyed being rapporteur for the session "Creating An Effective Innovative Eco-system. How The UK Enhances & Enables Innovation And What We Can Continue To Learn", chaired by Benjamin Tam (Isle Utilities) with a panel of Simon Ayley (WRc Group), Michael Thomas (Metropolitan Water District of Southern California) and Adam Lovell (Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).
Day 4: Wednesday
Wednesday kicked off with a morning lecture on climate change, after which I then attended an amazing keynote. I had a few meetings at the conference with some people I am working with and then I attended Session 2 of the Innovators Platform. Next was my own presentation on my research, followed by an informal networking dinner with people from the UK. The Water Camp focus today was posters so I spent a lot of time looking at the posters. We had to choose our own favourite poster and explain why, as well as discussing the take home messages of various resources on a topic of our choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed the amazingly inspiring keynote around "Untied Youth for Water" on Wednesday, delivered by Inês Breda (GRUNDFOS). Followed by a great panel discussion by Jacob Amengor (Ghana Water Company Ltd.) Andrea Montuori (Xylem), Yang Villa (Isle Utilities) and Emily Ryan (Delft University of Technology).
I was also very excited to present on my QCL work with SENTRY in the "Energy Efficiency and Recovery" session, kindly chaired by Norbert Jardin (Ruhrverband) and Chris Hertle (GHD).
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Day 5: Thursday
Thursday’s morning lecture was on sustainability, after which I had a group challenge to complete at the COWI stand. At lunch, the camp had a group photo and then I ran off to meet with someone who enjoyed my presentation on Wednesday and wanted to hear more. I then co-chaired a conference session. I then went around and spoke to as many people as I could from the exhibition stands for the days task (which was to answer a question from each of a selected number of stands) before ending the congress closing ceremony. The day was rounded off with a Water Camp dinner. Today had a focus on exhibitions so I went to a lot of stands for a chat!
What were my favourite parts of the day?
1. The group challenge exploring rain water harvesting and source to tap solutions at the COWI exhibition stand.
2. Co-Chairing a session on "Physio-chemical treatment techniques" (a topic I know nothing about!) with David Garman (Environmental Biotechnology CRC).
3. Attending a really nice World Water Camp Dinner hosted by Ramboll, where I was fortunate to receive a "not so insignificant prize" for my homework tasks during the conference!
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Day 6: Friday
Today was the final day of the International Water Association World Water Camp. We had a field trip with FORS, a water utility in Denmark operating in Roskilde, Lejre and Holbæk.
Firstly was the Hornsherred Waterworks, which supplies Roskilde, ~82k people. Did you know Denmark is 100% groundwater in source? This means that at the site we visited, final water is only sampled 2 x a week for microbial parameters and 1 x a fortnight for chemical parameters. I was also surprised that you needed to wear little plastic bags on your shoes to go in because they treat water production as similar to food production, which I think is a great idea!
Then we went to Kalundborg Sludge Mineralisation Site. This a pilot greenhouse used for testing the drainage of sludge, biodegradation of contaminants and improving the quality of fertiliser. Essentially, sludge is added to test basins which contain plants. The plants improve the dewatering, the aeration and the mineralisation of the sludge, allowing the filtrate from the sludge dewatering to be obtained without the addition of chemicals.
And finally we went to the Musicon Rainwater Basin. This delayes surface water in extreme rainfall events. And when not in use for this, is able to be used as a skatepark!
The trip was such a great way to round off our conference experience. Thank you everyone from World Water Camp (Ditte Andreasen Søborg, Francisca Sousa Braga Sousa Braga, Kirsten Landkildehus Thomsen, Loren Ramsay, Majbritt Deichgræber Lund and Torben Lund Skovhus) for making our first congress an excellent one!
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts on my first International Water Association #WorldWaterCongress as a YWP on the #WorldWaterCamp.
In Ines Breda's keynote on "Uniting Youth For Water" she spoke of how the Water Camp group sat at the back of the room for the session. She said to them you should be at the front! And our reply was are we allowed?
It's really important to do what you can to open the door for young water professionals, to bring them into the room, to encourage them to sit at the front.
I think Emily Ryan (Tu delft) summarised it very well in her quote in the Emerging Water Leaders Forum II "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit."
I found that Water Camp was a great way to do just that. It was nice to know that despite being at a giant congress with over 10,000 people from around the globe, you would always have a small group of friendly faces to say hello to.
Little did I know, and I was actually really surprised by this, that I actually knew people outside of the camp! Thank you everyone who came up to me to say hi, the new people maybe from seeing my presentation on my QCL work as well as the people I have met before maybe through volunteering on the IWA UK committee.
So from saying hello with a smile to encouraging me with my different congress activities, thank you for opening the door! Tak!
