Message from the Organizing Committee Chair
The time for the WISA Biennial Conference and Exhibition is upon us. This edition comes at a time when the water sector has been riddled with a number of issues challenging the sustainability and reliability of water and sanitation services supply. Once again, the conference will bring together a healthy diversity of water professionals from the public and private sectors, and important stakeholders. It will further allow for presentation of the latest developments and innovation in water technologies and research. The theme for this edition of the conference is Turn the Tide. It is more than a theme; it is a call to action of water practitioners and professionals by fellow water professionals. It recognizes that a tide has to turn for the country to meet SDGs, improve wastewater collection and compliance and achieve protection of the environment.
Our sub-themes follow-on on the same call for action approach with a touch of a nautical theme as listed below:
- Hands on the wheel – Moving towards stronger partnerships and stakeholder engagement
- Aye Aye Capt’n – Turn the tide with improved governance
- Reading the charts – Effecting resilient planning and management in a changing environment
- Forging A’Head and improving municipal water and sanitation service delivery
- Tending the lookout – Optimising monitoring and efficiency
- Clipping new edges with innovation and Technology
Through these themes, the conference hopes to further bring afore experiences and proposals on surviving and overcoming the current water issues including operation of water and wastewater treatment systems and guaranteeing supply in an energy constrained country; the recent Green and Blue Drop reports scores; the cut in spend by the National Treasury; operations and infrastructure recovery from recent floods; recent cholera outbreak; climate change effects including the eminent El Nino effect.
We aim to bring in a more diverse audience as water affects all industries, and strongly encourage outputs and action plans from the workshops to be hosted at the event. We will be partnering with a number of organizations in the sector to ensure that attendees get treated to a premium and insightful experience.
Please bring your research, innovations, water sector experiences and great minds to Durban in June 2024, and let us, together Turn the Tide.
Until we meet.
Mr Mluleki Mnguni
Chair of the OC