The Safe Water for All (Waterfall) project was represented at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Glasgow on 4–8 October. The theme of the international water sector congress was Water action – the path to resilience and prosperity. Six Waterfall project experts attended the congress, and the project’s work was presented in three presentations.
The congress theme, Water action – the path to resilience and prosperity, was closely connected to the work carried out in Waterfall. The project’s three presentations examined water sector resilience from the perspectives of infrastructure, drinking water security and future risks.
The three Waterfall project presentations approached water sector resilience from different perspectives:
- Postdoctoral Researcher Taha Karasu examined the investment gap in water infrastructure and its significance for operational reliability. In Finland, an estimated EUR 200 million is invested annually in the rehabilitation of water supply and sewerage networks, while the estimated need is approximately EUR 700 million. Waterfall is also developing a self-assessment tool to help water utilities identify vulnerabilities related to infrastructure and financial resilience.
- Senior Research Scientist Jyri Mustajoki presented a framework for comprehensively assessing the resilience of Finland’s water sector. The framework can be used to examine not only threats but also the underlying drivers and pressures, as well as the combined impacts of different factors.
- Principal Researcher Vuokko Laukka examined water sector resilience under different future scenarios. A key finding was that different risks are interconnected and, together, can weaken the water sector’s ability to prepare for disruptions.
The Waterfall project’s work on resilience will continue with two stakeholder workshops. The first will broaden the assessment from the level of individual water utilities to the systemic level, covering the operation of the water sector as a whole. The second will develop a future vision for the Finnish water sector and define concrete development actions to strengthen safe water supply in the future.
Further information
Vuokko Laukka
Principal Researcher
Finnish Environment Institute
vuokko.laukka(at)syke.fi
Jyri Mustajoki
Senior Research Scientist
Finnish Environment Institute
jyri.mustajoki(at)syke.fi
Taha Karasu
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Oulu
taha.karasu(at)oulu.fi