SOE, Tsinghua, September 25, 2018 The International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition was held successfully in Tokyo, Japan during September 16-21, 2018. The World Water Congress & Exhibition is one of the biggest and most influential global event for water professionals, which is planned to be held biennially among the different continents in turn. The theme of this Congress is "Shaping Our Water Future". The agenda covers a broad spectrum of thematic tracks, including water utility management, wastewater, drinking water & potable reuse, urban water systems, communities, integrated planning & the enabling environment, and large scale water management. The agenda of this Congress includes 7 keynote plenaries, 88 technical presentations, 49 workshops, 6 business forums and 19 training and skill development activities. Totally, 9815 delegates from 98 countries attended this conference, including those from government, academia, water industries and manufacturers.

Tsinghua University is the largest source of individual IWA members from China. Over 10 faculty and graduate students from the School of Environment, Tsinghua University attended this congress, who are mainly from the Division of Water Environment, Division of Drinking Water Safety, Division of Environmental Biology, and the Water Quality and Water Ecology Research Center. Prof. Jiuhui QU, the academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and the distinguished fellow of IWA, from the Water Quality and Water Ecology Research Center, was appointed as the co-editor-in-chief of the latest IWA journal “Blue-Green Systems” which was launched at the IWA Pavilion on September 19 during this congress. Prof. Xiao-jian ZHANG from the Division of Drinking Water Safety, as the governing member representing China, attended the IWA Governing Member Assembly on September 15. Prof. Xia HUANG from the Division of Water Environment, the IWA fellow and the chair of IWA specialist group on “Membrane Technology”, organized the opening meeting of Membrane Technology specialist group on September 17. Prof. Hong-ying HU from the Division of Environmental Biology, the IWA fellow and the management committee member of IWA specialist group on “Water Reuse”, co-initiated the water reuse specialist group workshop on September 19. Prof. Xiang-hua WEN from the Division of Water Environment, the management committee member of IWA specialist group on “Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering”, jointly organized the open meeting of this specialist group on September 20. A/Prof. Chao CHEN from the Division of Drinking Water Safety, the strategic council member of IWA and the secretary of IWA specialist group on “Disinfection”, orgnaized the opening meeting of this specialist group on September 18 and chaired the technical session on Disinfection By-Products on September 20. A/Prof. Xiao-yuan ZHANG from the Division of Water Environment, the IWA Emerging Water Leaders International Steering Committee member, attended the IWA Specialist Group Leaders Forum together with Prof. Xia HUANG and A/Prof. Chao CHEN on September 15 before the Congress.

Prof. Jiuhui QU announced the launch of the latest IWA journal “Blue-Green Systems” at the IWA Pavilion during this congress

Delegates presented at the IWA Specialist Group Leaders Forum

Delegates presented at the IWA water reuse specialist group workshop

Over 10 Tsinghua alumni also attended this Congress. Alumni Qing HU, Prof. of School of Environment and the Director of Engineering and Technology Innovation Center in Southern University of Science and Technology of China, was invited to join the keynote plenary session for panelist discussion on September 18. She delivered her opinion on water technological innovations and believed that big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning will play more and more important role in environment protection. Alumni Xiao-jun FAN, Executive Director of the Macao Water Supply Company Limited, the IWA fellow and the former IWA board member for two terms, joined the meeting of board of directors before this Congress. Alumni Jiang-yong HU, Prof. of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Director of Center for Water Research and Environment Engineering Programme at the National University of Singapore, acting as the chair of IWA specialist group on “Assessment and Control of Hazardous Substances”, organized the opening meeting of this specialist group on September 18. Alumni Rong-chang WANG, A/Prof. of School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, acting as the management committee member of specialist group on “water reuse” and specialist group on “biofilm”, joined the workshop of “water reuse” on September 19.

Alumni Prof. HU Qing attended the keynote plenary session and give opinion on panelist discussion

Some Tsinghua faculty, alumni and delegates at the conference

International Water Association (IWA), is the largest network of water professionals all over the world, dealing with a wide range of issues covering the full water cycle while working towards a water wise world. IWA members and staff are situated in 130 countries worldwide and China is a founding member of IWA. Currently, IWA has over 7,000 individual membership and 300 corporate membership.
China has the water industry market with the largest scale and the fastest development all over the world, acts as one important source of global water innovation and the origin country with most IWA individual member. IWA has paid more attention to China, organized the World Water Congress and Exhibition in Beijing, 2006 and set up a regional office in Beijing, 2007. During this congress, the executive director of IWA, Dr. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy announced to launch the second global operation center at Nanjing, China. The Water Quality and Water Ecology Joint Research Center at School of Environment, Tsinghua University will be the important partner of IWA to establish this global operation center.

(Copywriter: Zhuo CHEN, Xiao-yuan ZHANG, Chao CHEN, Hua-chun LAN from School of Environment, Tsinghua University. Photograph source: Tao LI, Jiang-hong SHI, Hua-chun LAN, Zhuo CHEN, Xiao-yuan ZHANG )