S2S Platform’s Post

Join Us at the InfoPoint Conference: Water Operators’ Partnerships! 💧 🗓️ Date: Friday, 31 May 2024  🕐 Time: 13:00 - 14:30 (CEST)  📍 Location: Brussels, Belgium and Online Water and sanitation utilities are crucial for ensuring access to safe, reliable, and sustainable services worldwide, aligning with SDG 6. However, many local operators face significant challenges in fulfilling these responsibilities. European water and sanitation utilities are stepping up to support their global peers through solidarity partnerships. By sharing their financial, technical, social, and managerial expertise, these partnerships are helping utility professionals worldwide enhance their capacity to deliver efficient, sustainable, and inclusive services. The upcoming session will highlight the diverse ways European utilities are aiding their counterparts in building robust and resilient water and sanitation systems. Discover the motivations behind these partnerships and the impactful methods they employ. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore how collaboration can accelerate solutions to global water and sanitation challenges. Please use this link to register: https://lnkd.in/e7AHySDD Let's build a future where everyone has access to safe and well-managed water and sanitation services! European Commission Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance/UN-Habitat (GWOPA) Dunea Oasen VEI World Waternet

A fascinating and timely article from the wonderful Holly Foreman, sharing how the Healthy Waters team at Auckland Council and 'a coalition of the willing' navigated the tricky space of putting the residents of Auckland first and doing more than the bare minimum regulations required of it !! I particularly appreciate the SafeSwim programme for integrating human behavioural science thinking into the constantly evolving programme. Being uber-cautious and recognizing that just because the pollution levels are lower than acceptable levels, other factors may prevent the water from being safe to swim in - The sign of a caring set of people wanting to do what's right for people and the environments they play in. Above all I 💕 the final paragraph as it sums it all up so perfectly and is a wonderful segway for me to drop some hints about what I will be sharing in my presentation at the forthcoming Water New Zealand conference in Kirikiriroa Hamilton later this month - 'Transparency also provides a foundation for institutional accountability (CIWEM 2024). It is essential for the water sector to have good intelligence on the state of the environments that they impact or seek to protect as good intelligence underpins the effective management of water resources and, ultimately, the trust and credibility of water companies, regulators, and the government.' This is crucial for the entities / organisations forming as part of the recent regulatory changes for Aotearoa New Zealand's water service providers to understand and face into For me the only thing missing from the last statement is '...and the communities served'. A great example of the kind of thinking the CIWEM Aotearoa New Zealand branch is bringing to support good water environment investments across the globe. Futher evidence of why CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) is an important avenue for connecting people to good ideas as we continue to discover and look to mitigate or change the way we have treated our precious water environments. Reach out if you want to know more. https://lnkd.in/gnT5cvxm

VWI will be present at the 10th World Water Forum taking place in Bali. Valuing Water Initiative will organize a session on ‘Sustainability Reporting for Water Security’. The session will bring together leaders from the disclosure, stewardship, corporate, government and investor communities to explore how the CSRD and related rules can be a catalyst for: 🌎 Greater transparency & accountability: Detailed disclosure data spotlights areas for improvement and allows civil society, financiers and regulators to hold companies responsible for their water practices; 💧 Initiating dialogue with companies: The new rules provide the water community with a unique opportunity to engage with companies to identify improvements, share best practices and promote sustainable water management throughout their value chains; 💦 Investing in water security: When the first reports are published in 2025, the CSRD will generate unprecedented levels of data on the water impacts of corporate value chains. These reports will help make clear to investors the scale of the water crisis and the financial materiality of water insecurity. This data can be used as a tool for mobilizing investment in water security on the scale necessary and aligning financial incentives with more sustainable water practices. Please join us in person during our session on Monday 20 May, 13.00 hrs local time in the Dutch Pavillion.   The #valuingwaterinitiative explores the ways water is valued by financial sector actors to better understand, value and manage water. This event aligns with the five valuing water principles emphasizing the need to incorporate the value of water in decision-making impacting water. #valuingwater #worldwaterforum   Iris Bijlsma Joe Ray Sofía de la Rosa Solano Floor Crispijn

📘 Just Published: Policy Brief on the United Nations 2023 Water Conference: Lessons from the Aral Sea Basin 🌎 💧 The United Nations (UN) Water Conference in March 2023 marked a significant landmark in global water governance. However, despite efforts made towards inclusivity and over 700 pledges garnered to cooperate and solve the world’s water issues, criticisms have arisen surrounding the event regarding accountability and ambition. 💧 This policy brief examines Central Asian water governance through the case of the Aral Sea Basin states—a region drastically affected by human-induced water scarcity—highlighting challenges and disagreements brought to the fore at global arenas like the UN Water Conference. The event demonstrated the region’s unpreparedness and limited engagement with other nation-states and stakeholders, exemplified in the release of a Joint Statement of the Central Asian states—signed by only four of the five riparian states and holding a strong techno-managerial focus, obscuring possible cooperative and interdisciplinary paths forward. 💧 Here, we analyse the basin countries’ experience to stress the necessity for proactive involvement of Global South countries in global water governance and make recommendations for future global event organisers to better foster cooperation among countries to accelerate progress towards SDG6. Many thanks to Bota Sharipova, Naho Mirumachi, and Lucy Everitt for collaborative work 🔗https://lnkd.in/edDy_Sxp

10th World Water Forum, one of the key arenas for global #watergovernance, is in full swing in Bali this week. Highlights for GOVAQUA: 🤝 EU launches a new initiative supporting peer-learning between lake and river basin organisations with International Network of Basin Organisations, hosted by the GOVAQUA partner International Office for Water. 💧 EU announces its joining of the #FreshWaterChallenge, a collective action initiative with an aim to restore 300,000 km of degraded rivers and 350 million hectares of degraded wetlands by 2030 worldwide. GOVAQUA studies good practices of aligning public, private and civil society efforts and targets in collective action. 📖 OECD Environment "Handbook of What Works - Solutions for the Local Implementation of the OECD Principles on Water Governance" provides a highly interesting compendium of evolving practices, intended to support and inspire water governance decision makers around the world. GOVAQUA joins the effort and is currently working on: 🔎 Developing a water governance self-assessment tool tailored to sub-national settings 💡  Building a repository of tried, tested and validated innovative water governance instruments, approaches and arrangements that advance sustainable and equitable water use 🌌 Formulating pathways and action perspectives relevant for different levels of water governance across sectors and regions in Europe 🌱 The Handbook presents a case study of the multi-stakeholder collaboration at the heart of the Archipelago Sea Basin Programme in Finland. GOVAQUA partner Finnish Environment Institute supports Varsinais-Suomen ELY-keskus in the Programme implementation via a #LivingLab process in 2024-2026 focusing on #waterstewardship in food value chain and #impactinvestments, and develops governance assessment tools for monitoring and evaluation. 

The implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is a very local endeavor. Of course, the State plays a role, but the actions and decisions about what the policies and rules are for each individual area are determined by local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) for their jurisdictions. Over 90% of California milk production occurs in the San Joaquin Valley and I try to keep up with all the SGMA developments in that area. What follows is an overview of SGMA progress starting in the south and moving northward. https://hubs.li/Q02Jcm2Z0

The more I look around the world, the more I realise that the urban stormwater quality management industry in Australia is doing far better than most. It can be easy to get down about the lack of accuracy and certainty, the gaps in our systems, and the non-compliant designs we develop because there just isn't enough space or budget to fix. Last night I dialled into a CIWEM presentation from the UK which reinforced what I've learned from multiple global literature reviews and research projects. Here's some positive news for your friday! 1. Nature-based solutions are really nothing new to us (swales, wetlands, rain gardens etc) 2. Spill containment measures for major roads really only happens here and some parts of the US. Our standards might be sporadic and inconsistent but we're at least thinking about it and making an effort. 3. We have an amazing industry of active, vocal and educated advocates speaking out and helping us progress our understanding and outcomes. 4. We have been considering both drought and flood impacts on our water quality measures for some time but not everyone else does! Our climate has forced us to become leaders in high flow bypasses and drought resilient design. I'd strongly suggest following at least a few international industry associations and people to keep a global perspective. Check out CIWEM as a start! #Resilience #StormwaterQuality #NBS https://lnkd.in/gmdESCKE

If you haven't already got your tickets to our June technical event, get in now! This is definitely a topic that will generate a lot of interest and we have some great speakers, so jump in before it sells out! If you can't join the in-person event (like me sadly 😥), then you can join virtually - from the comfort of your own device or via a boardroom pass with some colleagues. Details in the link below. #SustainabilityReporting #ESG #waterindustry

David Tompkins from WSP just gave a tour de force keynote at the European Wastewater Management Conference & Exhibition. David spoke on "Circular Economy: Stick or Twist?". A challenging and very well informed call to arms, concluding that the water sector is ideally placed to play a key central role in the development of a circular bioeconomy. But the sector must look externally as well as internally, and regulatory and financial frameworks must enable such a transition, rather than hinder it. Water Europe, International Water Association, Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR), The UK Water Partnership, Water Innovation and Research Centre, GW4 Water Security Alliance, CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management), Institute of Water, Aqua Enviro, British Water, Future Water

In light of the upcoming requirements under Section 82 of the Environment Act, set to take effect in 2030, some of the more forward-thinking water companies are already taking steps to prepare. And APEM Group is leading the charge with a ready-to-deploy blueprint for implementing these regulations. APEM is poised to integrate into the supply chains of water companies, offering a seamless solution: advanced monitoring systems that can be installed across the nation's rivers. Of course, the scale of the challenge is enormous. With thousands of rivers across the UK, monitoring downstream data will be essential to determine where environmental interventions are most urgently needed. Learn more about APEM's initiative and the role they can play in making the health of our waterways improve here 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eEvHZBKK 🎤: Hannah Austin | Rob Moore #ClimateAdaptation #NatureBasedSolutions #ClimateChangeAdaptationTechnologies #FloodAndCoastManagement #ClimateChangeResilient  🎥: Content With Purpose