World Water Week in Stockholm saw a variety of panels and workshops taking place during the event , which was attended by more than 3 000 visitors , exhibitors , and delegates .
the lack of water was the root cause of poverty and inequality , since , “ Only in sub-Saharan Africa do women and girls spend 40-billion hours a year collecting water , equivalent to a year ’ s worth of labour by the entire workforce in France .”
Carin Jämtin , director general of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency , pointed out the relationship between poverty , conflicts , and lack of clean water , saying that in those countries in conflict , water tensions increase and that “ the access to clean water is denied as tactic or as a weapon of war ”.
Two threads that ran throughout the event were collaboration and the breaking down of silos . The water sector is well known for running projects in parallel , with little to no communication between the ‘ silos ’. Right from the opening plenary , the call went out to break this mindset and to collaborate more .
Another theme during World Water Week 2018 stressed that more naturebased solutions are urgently needed to avoid a global water crisis and how they can be combined with conventional practices . The message was clear : a combination of ‘ green ’ and grey approaches is the only way forward .
In this vein , Professors Bruce Rittmann ( one of the two Stockholm Water Prize winners , the other being Mark van Loosdrecht ) explained how their research on environmental biotechnology has revolutionised water treatment : “ Microorganisms live in water and when we use microorganisms , we are making water a key part of the solution to many of our environmental challenges ,” he said .
“ Our take-away is that naturebased solutions do work ,” commented Andrea Erickson from The Nature Conservancy , after experiencing showcases from around the world .
Some of the sessions
With an average of 15 sessions running concurrently during oneand-a-half-hour stints , and almost 300 sessions throughout the week , Water Sewage & Effluent was hardpressed to report on every aspect of the event , but nevertheless , here is an idea as to the diversity of subject matter covered :
• Within the 238 sessions , founder and CEO of CityTaps , Grégoire Landel , presented an innovative solution to bring affordable running water at home to an estimated one-billion people in the developing world . Partnering with Veolia Africa and Orange Niger , and with support from Verizon and the GSMA , CityTaps intends to scale its solution and expand its product into new markets .
• Circle of Blue drew attention to the dire state of the world ’ s innovations industry debate environment infrastructure municipalities
“ Anyone with knowledge has an obligation to act .” Mayor of Stockholm , Karin Wanngård
Stockholm city sits on a series of waterways and islands and hosts the internationally supported World Water Week each year . contributor networking
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