National Drinking Water Conference Offers Exceptional Program to Delegates

The 15th Canadian National Drinking Water Conference took place from October 21 – 24 in Kelowna, BC. CWWA organized the Conference on behalf of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water. The conference lived up to its theme, Assessing and Managing Risk featuring several sessions dedicated to risk assessment and management planning including sessions dedicated to QMRA. Other sessions focused on treatment technologies, health research, small systems and more. The complete schedule of events is still available on the CWWA website. Delegates received the Conference abstracts and Proceedings at the event. Copies of the Proceedings can be ordered from the CWWA office – for more information contact admin@cwwa.ca. The Conference also featured a very successful poster session, including, for the first time, awards for the “Best Student Poster”.

The networking opportunities, education in usability, interaction with experienced professionals, and a glimpse of the future for water quality professionals provided an invaluable opportunity for all delegates

Our Opening Plenary session featured a keynote address from Dr. Ranier Englehardt, Assistant Deputy Minister, Infectious Disease, Prevention and Control Branch from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Dr. Englehardt spoke about the links between PHAC and the drinking water community, and the importance of appropriately assessing and understanding risk to drinking water systems. 

During the Plenary delegates were also given an overview of an NSERC program that promotes Research and Development partnerships in areas of environment and resources management through strategic and industry-driven research programs. The program encourages private and academic partnerships to explore and undertake research. The program funding considers municipalities an industrial partner, therefore, offering an excellent opportunity to promote collaboration.

We were also lucky enough to attract a large range of sponsors, who’s contributions not only helped support the Conference, but also gave them increased exposure, and an opportunity to advance their products and services.

Policy Forum
CWWA hosted a Policy Forum in conjunction with the Conference. The Forum, led by the Chair of CWWA”s Drinking Water Quality Committee – Klas Ohman, explored the disconnect between researchers and utility managers and operators. The Panel included Shannon Carto, representing the Canadian Water Network, Steven Craik from Epcor Water Services and Colin Hayes, WQM Associates offering an international perspective. The dialogue was extremely valuable – illustrating how challenging it is for utility needs to drive research in Canada – since most research is driven by the researchers themselves. The Canadian Water Network has programs that are closing the gap, but better collaboration is still needed. Delegates attending the Policy Forum pointed out that Canada needs better collaboration with international research bodies. Information dissemination is also a challenge – especially when trying to interpret research findings and new techniques to regulators, operators and the public. This knowledge transfer was a major focus of discussion and suggested some opportunities for future conferences to focus on opportunities for future collaboration between CWWA and the research community.

Want to know what you missed? Download the final conference program.

The Committee on Drinking Water and CWWA thank our sponsors:

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