NEW YORK — Spring is almost here. To many, the spring season means the arrival of warmer weather. To the international water/wastewater community, the spring season means the arrival of notable annual conference events.
One such conference event — the Global Water Summit (www.watermeetsmoney.com).
Now in its eighth year, the Global Water Summit has become recognized as a quintessential must attend event for both the public and private sector players operating within the international water and wastewater project and service arena.
Produced by the team that delivers the water industry’s well regarded publication Global Water Intelligence (www.globalwaterintel.com), and in partnership with the International Desalination Association and the Global Water Leaders Group (www.globalwaterleaders.org), the Global Water Summit is a truly a unique event — one of a kind.
The upcoming eighth Global Water Summit will bring together a tremendous notable collection of key leaders and participants from the international water community. This year, the “sell out” Summit will take place in Paris, France in April (the 7-8th).
Registration is now open at http://www.watermeetsmoney.com.
As in past years, the multi-day conference event will include: Keynote sessions, themed break-out strands and round table discussions. And the 2014 Summit format will include two separate sessions for One-2-One networking meetings.
The 2014 Summit will also include a special select technical site visit scheduled on the morning of the 9th of April. Conference attendees are invited to take a tour of SEDIF’s Mery-sur-Oise water treatment plant that serves 39 districts and 800,000 people living in the northern suburbs of Paris. SEDIF is the water authority for the Ile-de-France. It is useful to note that a leading French water company, Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies, has provided the water production line based on nano-filtration technologies (turnkey project), which produces and distributes 80 percent of the plant’s water output. Nano-filtration technology is a highly sophisticated membrane system which is able to filter out any undesirable colloidal substances whose presence in raw water is continually on the increase. As result, it therefore reduces the amount of products used in the treatment process.Entitled “Water for Growth”, the 2014 Global Water Summit recognizes that water is not just necessary to facilitate economic expansion. It is also important to realize that the productivity gains that can be achieved through new technologies within the water/wastewater sector, better operational practices and inspired leadership translates into a recognition of water as a quintessential engine of growth, both for cities and for businesses.
It has been noted that the traditional growth opportunities within the global water/wastewater sector have slowed down over the past five to seven years, specifically in the traditional business development arenas like municipal O&M contract opportunities. There is now more competition being experienced by the larger international water/wastewater operators from local indigenous companies in emerging market countries.
The large international water companies are now pursuing business development and growth via other non-traditional sectors such as the energy/oil and gas sector, the mining sector, the food and beverage sector, the industrial sector and water re-use opportunities.
And the large international water companies as well as evolving local players are learning to focus efforts in regions like Africa, Central America and central Asia which require more 21st century water/wastewater systems for their communities in order to help enable their regions to continue to move forward economically.
Across the whole world, there is also a need to embrace new funding models to finance the water/wastewater infrastructure investment requirements and there is a need to embrace new approaches when it comes to utility performance.
The opening keynote address of the Global Water Summit 2014 will be delivered by Dr. David Kilcullen who is the founding CEO of Caerus Associates. As a former soldier and a current advisor when it comes to counter-insurgence strategy, Dr. Kilcullen’s experience encompasses both practical and political aspects of conflict and climate change as well as the critical issues connected to the provision of water and energy, good health and governance. It should be noted that Caerus Associates is a firm that specializes in designing for humanitarian impact in conflict-affected and complex environments.
The opening session of the Global Water Summit will also include presentations/remarks from the gentleman that spearheads the global risk division at Norges Bank Investment Management, the chief sustainability officer at Unilever and the deputy governor of planning and development at Saline Water Conversion Corporation. It is useful to note that SWCCis a Saudi government corporation responsible for desalinating sea water in order to augment the supply of potable water to coastal and inland cities in the kingdom. SWCC is also the second largest electric power producer in the kingdom. And Norges Bank Investment Management is the asset management unit of the Norwegian Central Bank and serves as the manager of the Government Pension Fund Global. Please note that theassets of the Government Pension Fund Global are entirely invested outside Norway.
The morning of the opening day of the Global Water Summit will also include the much heralded networking roundtable session which will involve at least 30 roundtable topics spearheaded by different industry experts. Some of the topics already confirmed include large seawater desalination facilities, water technologies that deserve investor attention, produced water treatment in the United States, green infrastructure solutions, EBRD project financing and water risk, the Moroccan sanitation experience and public policies/regulation to improve water services. More roundtable topics continue to be added in recognition of the popularity of this particular Summit session.
During the afternoon of the opening day of the Global Water Summit, there will be a number of interesting breakout sessions. One of the sessions will focus on desalination while another session will address water stewardship initiatives. A third session will review new technologies linked to the wastewater sector.
Another group of breakout sessions scheduled on the opening afternoon of the Summit will review new models for growth in the water sector, and the achievement of water sustainability within select business sectors.
The opening day of the Global Water Summit will conclude with the much anticipated Global Water Awards Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony.
It is important to note that the coveted Global Water Awards seeks to acknowledge the most important achievements in the international water industry within several categories — voted on by the readers of Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and the Water Desalination Report (WDR) as well as members of the International Desalination Association (IDA) and the International Private Water Association (IPWA). The various categories that are being recognized this year include: Water company of the year, desalination company of the year, water project of the year, wastewater project of the year, water reuse project of the year, water technology company of the year, etc. For more information about the Global Water Awards 20014 including the various nominees, visit http://www.globalwaterawards.com/awards-shortlist
This year, the guest of honour for the Gala Dinner and the Awards Ceremony isHer Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Nobel Laureate. Her story is inspirational: Inter-nationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” President Sirleaf is a leading promoter of peace, justice and democratic rule. As Africa’s first democratically elected female president, she has led the war-torn nation of Liberia to restored freedom and peace while enacting economic, social and political change.
The second day of the Global Water Summit will open with a number of concurrent sessions including a panel discussion focused on the future of cities and the need to unlock infrastructure investment. There will also be a session focused on water technologies in the oil and gas sector, a session on wastewater and water reuse in Latin America, a session on Africa and the need to transform a continent, a session on Asia and the water sector, a session on water priorities in the Middle East, a session on water management within the global mining sector, etc.
A second set of concurrent sessions scheduled on the morning of the second day will address topics such as produced water, water management in mining, smarter water utilities, industrial wastewater treatment in China, etc.
The second day of the Summit will also include another set of One-2-One networking meetings.
The closing plenary session of the Global Water Summit will address the topic “the future of water.” It will focus on the importance of achieving efficient and productive water management in countries around the world in order to reduce water risk and ensure a continued path of sustainable economic growth. The session will include a panel of notable individuals from Australia, France, the United States, Denmark and India.
The Global Water Summit 2014 is a conference event not to be missed!
According to one select Summit attendee in 2013, the Global Water Summit, “has a higher density of decision makers than any other water conference and is a fantastic place to get things done.”
Additionally, another 2013 Summit attendee noted that the Global Water Summit was an, “excellent use of my time where a number of new and probably highly valuable business relationships have been initiated."
To learn more about the upcoming Global Water Summit and to register for one of the remaining available attendee slots, do not forget to visit the following conference website: www.watermeetsmoney.com.
See you in Paris!
