The joint AWA Regional Young Water Professionals/ Intelligent Water Network (IWN) Conference was held on 12 March 2021 in Sunbury. Over 75 water professionals gathered to share insights and learnings on the Role of Water in a Climate Resilient Future.
It was great to see so many people gathered together to learn from experiences across the industry. The day offered real insights into resilience in the water industry, with presentations on circular economy and COVID economic recovery and learnings from Fishermans Bend.
The event was held both in person and online, which is itself is an ode to resilience!
Highlights from the day included:
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning also sponsored a workshop that saw the YWP and IWN cohort come together to explore how the water sector could harness the Circular Economy and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to deliver water security for the state.
Recycling Victoria: a new economy is Victoria’s circular economy policy and 10-year plan that will cut pollution and boost economic growth and jobs and the water sector is a vital component of the policy: “Organisations in the water sector are well placed to support the transition because of their access to suitable land, expertise managing organic waste and treatment technologies, and commitments to resource recovery and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” The collaborative workshop focussed on exploring our sector’s role to ensure we’re playing our part in the transition, and leveraging the economic and environmental opportunities that can come from delivering circular economy initiatives.
Participants worked together to consider the types of partnerships we need to build, the water sector’s interface with other systems such as energy, food and agriculture, waste management and environmental regeneration, and the new skills the sector workforce needs to hone to ensure it has a seat at the table and is making the most of its existing asset base. A plethora of ideas covering funding, skills development, legal and commercial, technology and community engagement as well as a long-list of initiatives already underway came out of the session. DELWP plans to utilise the findings as part of its policy development process. They are developing actions to accelerate the transition and support the sector to address key barriers and the workshop has generated a wealth of ideas, insights and recommendations that will be considered as part of that process.
The conference would not have been possible without the support of the generous sponsors LC Water, Department of Land Water and Environment, and Aurecon.
Special thanks to the committee of organisers of the conference lead by Georgina Catto-Smith, Joseph Elderkin and Digna Nichols from the AWA.
While the last 12 months have been full of many challenges, it is clear that within the water industry there is plenty of resilience and optimism for the future.
