SIWW Diary

As a non-engineer working in an engineering company I have always been impressed by the way that engineers just want to find solutions. In fact I have heard business managers complain on occassions that some clients take advantage of this admirable trait. Give an engineer a problem, and in my experience, they will work at it until they solve it. My perception has been built on my experience of working with engineers that are working within the water industry. Talking to someone I met last night he mentioned how impressed he had been with the spirit of collaboration that he has witnessed at SIWW. We agreed that engineers are driven by the noble goal of helping the global community to do things better. He added that from his experiences of working in the wider engineering or infrastructure industry he had not come across a similar colloborative spirit that he had felt at SIWW. I can’t say whether engineers in the water industry are any more willing to  collaborate than they are in other sectors. But last night we saw the true spirit of collaboration manifest when Professor Gatze Lettinga,was presented with the 2009 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize. He was recognised for his environmentally-sustainable solution for the treatment of used water using anaerobic technology.  His revolutionary treatment concept enables industrial used water to be purified cost-effectively and produces renewable energy, fertilizers and soil conditioners. He chose not to patent this technology so that his water treatment technology can be universally available.  As a result, this technology is in use in almost 3,000 reactors, representing about 80 percent of all anaerobic used water treatment systems in the world. Those of us that have attended SIWW have heard great things this week, about technology and the latest ideas and innovation that exists in the water industry. The altruistic behaviour of Professor Lettinga is a shining example of this. Unfortunately though, it is estimated that some 1.1 billion people still have to get through their day without access to safe drinking water. The good news is that to solve this fundamental problem we’ll need the collaboration of engineers and others. As SIWW has shown this week, that spirit of collaboration is very much alive and well.

Posted by: Jim Howlett