IWA Water Security Conference 2012
25-27 March 2012
Sydney, NSW, Australia
It is with great regret I am writing to inform you that the organizing committee for the Resilience 2012 Conference has decided to cancel the event planned for 25th – 27th of March 2012.
As you are aware, both the International Water Association and the Australian Water Association are not-for-profit professional organisations, who rely on the support of our members and sponsors for hosting events. The current economic challenges in Europe have resulted in the cancellations from several proposed participants. In addition, there are number of key international water events scheduled in 2012, which are competing for the shrinking sponsorship pool. These circumstances have made it financially unviable for us to proceed with this event at this point in time.
On behalf of the organizing committee I would like to firstly thank you for your interest in the activities of the IWA Water Security Specialists Group. And I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation decision may cause you.
At this stage there is no intention to reschedule the Resilience 2012. The Specialist Group’s management committee will be discussing the available future options for hosting an event focusing on water security and risk management, later this month. Given your interest in the subject area, we will endeavor to keep you informed of the decision, so that you can continue to participate in the activities of this Group.
Amit Chanan
Submission of abstracts: extended to 31 July 2011
Notification of acceptance: 29 August 2011
Submission of full papers: 15 February 2012
Water utilities worldwide, whether public or privately owned, provide an essential service for human existence and wellbeing. It is critical to ensure that even during times of emergencies water utilities are able to continue, and if disrupted, restore services. To provide a level of service that guarantees continuous uninterrupted supply of drinking water and treatment of wastewater even at times of emergencies requires the utilities to focus on best practice emergency response planning.
Recent unprecedented natural disasters in the Asia Pacific, such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, earthquake in New Zealand, floods and cyclone in Australia, all highlight the critical need for international collaboration in this important area. These experiences have highlighted that by drawing on available resources from other unaffected areas in the country or even outside the country more effective disaster response and recovery is possible.
Extreme disaster events are often followed by a second wave disaster of waterborne infectious diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea and malaria, due to lack of adequate water and sanitation systems. Appropriate risk management and the right level of preparedness could help reduce human casualties from this second wave disaster and assist in the recovery process. And the water industry has an extremely important role to play in this regard.
The Aim of the Conference
The International Water Association's Water Security and Safety Management SG seeks to establish a platform for dialogue and promote an integrated view on disaster response and resilience. This relates to policy making, financing, urban planning and management, emergency water and wastewater treatment, infrastructure design and rehabilitation as well as upstream linkages of with wider land use planning issues.
On behalf of the WS&SM Specialist Group, W-SMART, and the IWA Australia Committee, we are honoured to invite the global water industry to participate in Resilience 2012 in Sydney. We hope that you could attend this important event to share your experiences as well as promote exchange of information and ideas.
Conference Themes:
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Natural Disaster Preparedness & Response
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Man-made Disaster Preparedness & Responseing
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Vulnerability & Risk Management Best Practice in Water
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Research, Development and Emerging Technology Solutions
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Business Continuity Planning for Water Utilities
Contact: Conference Secretariat
E-mail: awaevents@awa.asn.au
