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Water Convention 2024 Call for Papers
Water Convention 2024 Call for Papers
The Water Convention is a platform for gathering professionals and technology providers from around the world to share their knowledge, practical experiences, and novel technologies to address the current and emerging water challenges under the following themes:
The Water Convention technical programme focuses on spurring knowledge sharing, fruitful discussions and engaging debates among water leaders and practitioners through high quality presentations on technological innovations, management strategies and best practices.
Important Dates
Launch of Call for Papers |
26 April 2023 |
Launch of Call for Reviewers |
17 May 2023 |
Application deadline for Reviewers |
14 July 2023 |
Submission deadline for abstracts |
1 August 2023 |
Notification to authors on abstract review |
15 December 2023 |
Deadline for author acceptance |
31 January 2024 |
Advance Programme |
1 March 2024 |
Deadline for author registration |
15 April 2024 |
Submission deadline for presentation slides and poster softcopies |
15 April 2024 |
Final Programme |
17 May 2024 |
SIWW2024 Water Convention |
18 to 22 June 2024 |
Call for Papers
Submit your abstracts by 1 August 2023.
Note: Authors are required to prepare the abstract using the provided template before submitting through the online portal.
Call for Reviewers
Water experts are invited to register as a reviewer for the Water Convention. You will support the Programme Committee in reviewing abstracts and play a part in shaping a high-quality programme at SIWW2024. Entitlements for reviewers include 20% discount off SIWW2024 Water Convention standard registration fee (for all reviewers) and Certificate of Appreciation (upon request).
Submit your application by 14 July 2023. Successful applicants will be notified shortly after.
Contact Information
For any enquiries, please email the Water Convention Secretariat at waterconvention@siww.com.sg.
Message from the Co-chairs of the SIWW2024 Water Convention Programme Committee
Click to view the Co-Chairs message
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Bernard Koh
- Assistant Chief Executive (Future Systems and Technology)
- PUB, Singapore's
National Water Agency - (Singapore)
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Darryl Day
- Chief Executive Officer
- Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust
- (Australia)
Singapore International Water Week 2024 returns next year from 18-22 June 2024 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. As one of the leading global water events in the world focused on urban water innovation and solutions, SIWW2024 will once again host global leaders, experts and practitioners from water utilities, agencies, governments, cities, industry and academia to share and co-create innovative solutions to solve the world’s urban water challenges.
As one of the key flagship events of SIWW, the Water Convention provides the platform for the sharing of innovations, advanced technologies, and best practices among researchers, practitioners, and technology providers in the water industry. In the 2022 edition, the Water Convention attracted more than 1,200 delegates from 52 countries and featured over 300 oral and poster presentations across 6 Hot Issues Workshops and 47 technical sessions.
Co-organised by PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, and the International Water Association, the 2024 Water Convention invites experts and practitioners to share their newest and latest innovation, technologies, best practices and case studies in six themes covering the urban water cycle. These themes reflect the urgent issues and challenges facing urban water practitioners, such as ensuring the sustainable production and supply of safe and clean drinking water, the effective and efficient collection and treatment of used water, resiliency and adaptability of urban cities to climate change, floods and sea-level rise, and resource efficiency and circular economy for the water sector.
It is our wish for the papers presented at this Water Convention to inspire and foster collaborations amongst various stakeholders within the global water community, and contribute to meaningful action to build a sustainable global water future for all. On this note, we invite you to submit your abstracts and share your valuable ideas and experiences with peers from around the world.
We look forward to meeting you in Singapore at the SIWW2024 Water Convention.
Programme Committee
Click to view the Programme Committee members
Theme 1: Delivering Water from Source to Tap (Network)
Theme Leader
-
Ridzuan Ismail
- Director, Water Supply (Network)
- PUB, Singapore's
National Water Agency - (Singapore)
Programme Committee Members
-
Albert Cho
- Senior Vice President
and Chief Strategy
and External Affairs Officer - Xylem
- (USA)
- Senior Vice President
-
Amir Cahn
- Executive Director
- SWAN
- (Israel)
-
Hamanth Kasan
- Director, Utilities Partnership Division
- ROCKBlue
- (South Africa)
-
Martine Watson
- General Manager Operations, Maintenance & Planning
- Urban Utilities
- (Australia)
-
Zdravka Do Quang
- Group Innovation Programs Officer
- SUEZ
- (France)
Theme 2: Delivering Water from Source to Tap (Treatment)
Theme Leader
-
Seungkwan Hong
- Professor
- Korea University
- (South Korea)
Programme Committee Members
-
Aik Num Puah
- Chief Specialist
(Water Treatment) - PUB, Singapore's
National Water Agency - (Singapore)
- Chief Specialist
-
Holly Shorney-Darby
- Head, Technology Application and Piloting
- PWNT
- (The Netherlands)
-
Jonathan Clement
- Director, Global Advanced Water Treatment
- Ramboll
- (Singapore)
-
Min Yang
- Deputy Director,
Research Center for
Eco-Environmental Sciences - Chinese Academy of Science
- (China)
- Deputy Director,
-
Nikolay Voutchkov
- Executive Director, Water Innovation Center
- NEOM
- (Saudi Arabia)
Theme 3: Effective and Efficient Wastewater Management
a. Treatment
b. Conveyance
Theme Leader
-
Kartik Chandran
- Professor
- Columbia University
- (USA)
Programme Committee Members
-
Andrew Shaw
- Associate Vice President
and Global Practice
and Technology Leader
in Sustainability & Wastewater - Black & Veatch
- (USA)
- Associate Vice President
-
Mads Leth
- Chief Executive Officer
- VCS Denmark
- (Denmark)
-
Mark van Loosdrecht
- Chair Professor, Environmental Biotechnology
- Delft University of Technology
- (The Netherlands)
-
Norhayati Abdullah
- Associate Professor, Environmental Engineering
- Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
- (Malaysia)
-
Susan Moisio
- Global Vice President and Global Water Director
- Jacobs
- (USA)
-
Valerie Naidoo
- Executive Manager, Business Development and Innovations
- Water Research Commission
- (South Africa)
Theme 4: Cities of the Future and Coastal & Flood Resilience
Theme Leader
-
Tony Wong
- Director
- Tony Wong Consulting
- (Australia)
Programme Committee Members
-
Corinne Trommsdorff
- Chief Executive Officer
- French Solid Waste Partnership
- (France)
-
Hazel Khoo
- Director, Coastal Protection Department
- PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency
- (Singapore)
-
Mark Fletcher
- Global Water Business Leader
- Arup
- (UK)
-
Piet Dircke
- Global Director Climate Adaptation
- Arcadis
- (The Netherlands)
-
Pritha Hariram
- Head, Water Infrastructure & Climate Adaptation
- Ramboll
- (Singapore)
Theme 5: Water Quality and One Health
Theme Leader
-
Robert Bos
- Independent Consultant
- (Switzerland)
Programme Committee Members
-
David Cunliffe
- Principal Water
Quality Advisor - SA Health
- (Australia)
- Principal Water
-
Fiona Waller
- Head of Water Quality
- Affinity Water
- (UK)
-
Hiroyuki Katayama
- Professor
- University of Tokyo
- (Japan)
-
Regina Sommer
- Associate Professor
- Medical University of Vienna
- (Austria)
-
Ruchika Shiva
- Country Coordinator
- IRC WASH
- (India)
Theme 6: Nexus and Circularity
Theme Leader
-
Dragan Savic
- Chief Executive Officer
- KWR Water Research Institute
- (The Netherlands)
Programme Committee Members
-
Adam Lovell
- Executive Director
- Water Services Association of Australia
- (Australia)
-
Chee Meng Pang
- Chief Engineering
and Technology Officer - PUB, Singapore's
National Water Agency - (Singapore)
- Chief Engineering
-
Despo Fatta-Kassinos
- Professor
- University of Cyprus
- (Cyprus)
-
Gary Gu
- Global Technology Director
- DuPont Water Solutions
- (USA)
-
Michael Storey
- Managing Director
- Isle Utilities
- (Australia)
-
Miriam Otoo
- Deputy Chief of Party, URBAN WASH
- Tetra Tech
- (USA)
Themes and Topics
Theme 1: Delivering Water from Source to Tap (Network)
Digital transformation has empowered water utilities to leverage advanced technologies and data gathered from multiple sensors to improve their network planning and design. This enables water utilities to achieve an efficient and resilient network. The wealth of network information supports operators in proactive maintenance of their assets, leak detection, condition assessment, valve operations and mains flushing. This informed approach ensures smooth and uninterrupted water supply. The proliferation of digital twins and smart water meters also betters our understanding of the network’s behaviour and enables more effective water conservation strategies. However, it is important to note that digital transformation should prioritise people, and digital solutions should be relevant to and embraced by both operators and customers. This theme welcomes abstracts on the latest innovations, technologies, best practices, and case studies on water supply network management. Topics of interest include:
1.1 | Planning, Design and Implementation
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1.2 | Efficiency of Operations
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1.3 | Asset Management and Network Renewal
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1.4 | Metering
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1.5 | Smart Water
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1.6 | Water Conservation and Efficiency Measures
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Theme 2: Delivering Water from Source to Tap (Treatment)
Cities worldwide face the challenge of limited freshwater supply, prompting them to diversify their water sources to become more resilient. As treatment technologies continue to advance, there is an increasing focus on making the process more sustainable by reducing energy requirements, exploring beneficial reuse of brine, and harvesting energy from waste streams. Additionally, these technologies have to be adaptable to the future impacts of climate change, for instance by designing treatment processes that can cope with changing water quality. While ensuring a sufficient and sustainable water supply is critical, it is equally important to ensure that the water supplied is of the highest possible quality. To this end, water utilities are applying advanced technologies that can effectively treat and remove contaminants of emerging concern and specific groups of contaminants that are resistant to conventional processes. Water utilities are also exploring the use of innovative sensors and digital solutions to support them in plant operations, maintenance, and optimisation. This theme welcomes abstracts on innovative and smart water treatment technologies and solutions in the following areas:
2.1 | Basic and Advanced Water Treatment Processes
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2.2 | Innovations in Desalination
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2.3 | Augmenting Water Supplies by Water Reuse
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2.4 | Brine Concentration and Mining
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2.5 | Digitalisation of Water Treatment Plants
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2.6 | Technological Innovations in Response to Climate Change
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Theme 3a: Effective and Efficient Wastewater Management (Treatment)
In our pursuit of a sustainable future, the perception of wastewater has changed from being something unwanted to a beneficial resource. This shift drives the desire to extract as much water, energy, and valuable materials from wastewater as possible. A growing number of technologies have been developed to enhance energy generation during wastewater treatment. Meanwhile, to mitigate climate change, attempts are made to reduce the overall carbon footprint of wastewater management including nitrous oxide and methane emissions. There is an upward trend in recovering and reusing material resources from waste streams. For the remaining wastewater effluent, a high quality is targeted for reuse applications, potentially in part through the use of membrane technologies and processes. Besides looking into new innovations, efforts are also placed in improving the efficiencies of existing processes to enhance sustainability. This theme welcomes abstracts examining best practices and innovative technologies for sustainable and economically viable centralised or decentralised treatment and management of wastewater and the resources embedded therein.
3a.1 | Basic and Advanced Wastewater Treatment Processes
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3a.2 | Process Intensification/Innovation for Efficient Use and Recovery of Resources
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3a.3 | Climate Change and Resilience: Process Impacts and Implications
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3a.4 | Asset Management
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3a.5 | Monitoring and Measurement of Wastewater Contaminants
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3a.6 | Next Generation of Intelligent Plant
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3a.7 | Wastewater Treatment and Management in Developing Countries
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3a.8 | Decentralised Wastewater Treatment for Addressing Rapid Urban Growth
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3a.9 | Water Reuse
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Theme 3b: Effective and Efficient Wastewater Management (Conveyance)
Sewers are vital for the sanitary conveyance of wastewater to treatment facilities. To ensure that sewers can carry out their function well, proper operation and maintenance are necessary. Utilities are taking a more proactive approach in these areas with the help of digitalisation and intelligent technologies. In sewer operation, analytics and management tools are employed with real-time sensors and meters for detecting and predicting blockages, inflows, and infiltrations. It is equally important to examine the quality of the wastewater discharged into sewers as it affects downstream treatment processes. In maintenance, advanced inspection equipment is deployed for sewer inspection, cleaning, and rehabilitation. The necessity for cutting-edge technologies becomes more apparent as large sewers are laid more deeply in the increasingly urbanised cities. Such deep tunnel sewage systems require innovative solutions for monitoring the tunnel’s structural integrity and conveyance condition. Abstracts looking into novel technologies, best practices and applied research for wastewater networks in the areas below are welcomed.
3b.1 | Networks
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3b.2 | Asset Management, Renewal and Rehabilitation
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3b.3 | Operations
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3b.4 | Deep Tunnel Sewerage Systems
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3b.5 | Sensors for Wastewater Monitoring in the Network
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Theme 4: Cities of the Future and Coastal & Flood Resilience
Cities and towns are the economic powerhouses. They account for more than 70% of global gross domestic product (GDP). And by 2050, they are expected to accommodate 70% of the world’s population. Cities are complex adaptive systems, with multiple interconnected elements converging, concentrating, and exacerbating many of climate change impacts. Over the last decade, SIWW has provided a platform for fostering integrated urban water management across the social-technical domain.
The Cities of the Future Theme of SIWW2024 will focus on coastal cities and small island states. While all cities globally are faced with climate change water-related challenges of water scarcity, floods, environmental pollution, and loss of natural capital, to varying degrees, coastal cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change impact on flooding from multiple fronts, i.e. sea-level rise and storm surges, fluvial floods with many coastal cities located within large river basins, and pluvial floods owing to many coastal cities being located on relatively low-lying and flat terrain. Many small island states are also reliant on vulnerable groundwater resources as their primary source of potable water. Coastal pollution (e.g., plastics and more generally waste management – solid or liquid) is also becoming a critical challenge for coastal cities to ensure local water quality as an asset for liveability and citizens engagement on water-related issues, but also to contribute to a wider range of SDGs.
Our focus on coastal cities and small island states is therefore within the context of climate change resilience and adaptive capacity and managing coastal pollution. Emphasis is placed on innovative coastal and flood resilience measures which need to be multifunctional (due to land scarcity in small island states) and flexible (to manage the uncertainty in storm surges and sea level rises). Authors are invited to submit abstracts across the following four technical and water governance sub-topics for coastal cities and small island states.
4.1 | Reimagining City Masterplans
In exploring contemporary approaches to urban planning and design of coastal cities in their transition to greater resilience and liveability, papers with actual case studies addressing the following issues are invited:
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4.2 | Coastal Resilience through Innovations in Hybrid Infrastructure
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4.3 | Digital Developments for Water Management of Coastal Cities and Small Island States
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4.4 | Institutional Reform for Effective Governance
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Theme 5: Water Quality & One Health
Global climate change has led to an increased focus on water quality and its impact on human, animal, and ecosystem health. Recent progress in the application of genomics has opened up new possibilities for water quality surveillance and management. Wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance (WES) has attracted attention worldwide during the pandemic as a real-time monitoring method for SARS-CoV-2; it has great potential to be applied to monitoring the emergence of new virus variants, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and pathogens at large, as well as medicine and drug use in communities. Innovative sensors for detecting pollutants and contaminants in drinking water are becoming more sensitive and specific which raises concerns if hazardous concentration standards are driven by the ever-increasing resolution of detection techniques (shifting from parts per trillion to parts per quadrillion) rather than based on proven health risks. The current debate on PFAS highlights the growing divergence between standards across the world. Water quality is also increasingly crucial in the context of medical care; the quality of recreational waters is another issue of concern. Effective communication between sectors and to communities is crucial for the successful promotion of One-Water/One-Health but remains a challenge. This is a Call for Papers directed at policy- and decision-makers, planners, practitioners, and researchers dealing with one or more of the sub-topics listed below:
5.1 | Global Climate Change, Water Quality and Health
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5.2 | Recent Progress in the Application of Genomics in Water Quality Management
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5.3 | Wastewater-based Epidemiological Surveillance (WES) beyond SARS-CoV-2
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5.4 | Emerging Technologies and Methods for Water Quality Monitoring and Management
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5.5 | Water Quality in the Context of Health and Medical Care
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5.6 | Recreational Water Quality and One Health
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5.7 | Communication between Sectors and to Affected Communities
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Theme 6: Nexus and Circularity
The water sector has made significant progress in adopting circular economy principles, particularly in the area of closing the water loop through the application of advanced treatment processes. There is now a growing emphasis on closing the resource and carbon loops within and beyond water systems. To achieve this goal, it is essential to adopt a system thinking approach that takes into account not only technological aspects, but also policy and planning, stakeholder engagement, application, marketability, and potential financing solutions. It is also important to adopt a nexus approach that enables systems integration and collaboration with other sectors to fully leverage the benefits of circular solutions. Against this backdrop, this theme welcomes abstracts on sustainable frameworks, strategies, and case studies on next-generation solutions for the water sector to support a circular economy.
6.1 | Policy and Planning
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6.2 | Stakeholder Engagement and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration in the Circular Water Economy
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6.3 | System of Systems for a Circular Economy
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6.4 | Resource Circularity
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6.5 | Carbon Circularity
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6.6 | Financing Circularity
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Abstract Submission Procedures
Click here to read more
- Authors can submit abstracts for either oral or poster presentations.
- Abstracts should be limited to three A4-sized pages including figures, tables and references, and must contain adequate information to allow a sound referee review.
- Submission should be made online through the submission system. The author must fill in all the information requested by the submission system and attach the abstract using the provided template.
- The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1 August 2023. The abstracts will be peer reviewed for selection and the authors will be notified about the acceptance of their paper for presentation on 15 December 2023.
- Selection criteria include high technical quality, relevance to the themes/topics, and high information content. Abstracts which are deemed commercial in nature will not be accepted.
- The authors are strongly encouraged to submit the full papers once their abstracts have been accepted. Full papers will be further reviewed and considered for publication in IWA’s Journal.
- All accepted oral and poster presenters are required to register for the Water Convention and pay for the conference registration fees. The presentations will only be listed in the Convention programme upon receipt of the registration fees.
Co-organisers
Click here to read more
About the Co-organisers
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International Water Association (IWA) The International Water Association is the organisation that brings together science and practice of water management in order to reach a world in which water is wisely managed to satisfy the needs of human activities and ecosystems in an equitable and sustainable way. The IWA is a global knowledge hub and international network for water professionals and anyone concerned about the future of water. We bring together know-how and expertise to instigate ground-breaking solutions. |
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PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency
PUB is a statutory board under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE). It is the national water agency, which manages Singapore’s water supply, water catchment, and used water in an integrated way. From April 2020, PUB also took on the responsibility of protecting Singapore’s coastline from sea-level rise as the national coastal protection agency.
PUB has ensured a diversified and sustainable supply of water for Singapore with the Four National Taps (local catchment water, imported water, NEWater, desalinated water). PUB leads and coordinates whole-of-government efforts to protect Singapore from the threat of rising seas and the holistic management of inland and coastal flood risks.
PUB calls on everyone to play a part in conserving water, in keeping our waterways clean, and in caring for Singapore’s precious water resources. If we all do our little bit, there will be enough water for all our needs – for commerce and industry, for living, for life.
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