For Declan Clausen, receiving the 2026 Young Water Professional of the Year Award (sponsored by Xylem) at the Australian Water Awards in May is both an honour and a reflection of a community in transition.
Recognised for his rare combination of technical expertise, strategic thinking and community leadership, Clausen has built a career that extends well beyond the traditional boundaries of his first water sector role in engineering.
Now, as Group Manager Strategy & External Affairs at Hunter Water and a City of Newcastle councillor, he is helping elevate water's role in conversations about housing, climate resilience and economic development, demonstrating how technical professionals can shape public policy and strengthen community outcomes.
Yet, for Clausen, the award represents more than personal recognition. It signals a broader shift in what leadership in the water sector looks like.
"I've got to say it is absolutely a tremendous honour and, honestly, extremely humbling as well," he said.
"I've been in the water industry for my entire career, 15 years now, so having the contributions I've made over that time recognised by my peers means a great deal and is extremely special.
"We are an industry that invests in people, that is very caring at its core and that gives people a leg up. I've certainly been a beneficiary of that, and it's made me think a lot about how I position myself to make sure I give back as much as I've received."
For Clausen, the recognition also reflects an evolving profession. While technical excellence remains fundamental, he believes today's challenges demand leaders who can communicate, collaborate and connect water with the broader issues shaping Australia's future.
"We come from a sector where technical professions are really valued. But I think the skill set I have now goes beyond that,” he said.
“It's about recognising great communicators, collaborators and leaders, and that's so essential for the way water is now seen within society and where we need to position ourselves, particularly when addressing things like the housing crisis and the climate crisis."
Nominations for the 2026-27 awards season are now open. Nominate outstanding organisations, individuals, and students here.
Clausen's career has spanned engineering, strategic leadership and local government, giving him a perspective that bridges technical decision-making with public policy.
"I was fortunate to commence my career as an undergraduate environmental engineer at Hunter Water on a scholarship. The engineering mindset, and the way the industry operates, is very much about teaching people to make decisions based on evidence and data," he said.
"It's a very constructive way of thinking, and I think I've benefited enormously from that in all of my different roles."
Today, much of his work focuses on long-term strategy, considering what the Lower Hunter region and the water sector might look like decades from now while balancing competing priorities in the present.
It is his experience in local government, however, that has reinforced one of his strongest leadership lessons: "You can have the best technical solution in the world, but it's not going to succeed unless it's understood by communities," Clausen said.
"We need to make sure our communities trust it and support it."
Bringing together engineering, strategy and elected office has enabled Clausen to contribute to conversations that extend well beyond traditional utility operations.
"I've had the benefit of bringing those things together, and that's been really helpful when we're having public conversations about enabling housing growth in my region, renewable energy, hydrogen and, more recently, data centres," he said.
"Water is such a critical ingredient in bringing those different pieces together, but we need to think about it as an overall system."
For much of Australia's history, the water sector has quietly delivered essential services with little public attention. While that reliability is something to celebrate, Clausen believes it has also contributed to water becoming largely invisible in public discourse.
"In recent times, water has been largely invisible to our communities because it works well," he said.
"But we, as an industry, underpin so many of the public health advancements we've seen as a society, while also delivering environmental outcomes."
Importantly, he believes the conversation should focus less on infrastructure itself and more on the outcomes communities care about.
"In places like Newcastle and the Lower Hunter, we engage with our customers about the kinds of environmental outcomes they'd like to see. Clean creeks, beaches and healthy waterways consistently emerge as the number one priority, rather than discussions about wastewater system performance. People connect with outcomes rather than infrastructure," he said.
"There's an opportunity for us to lift the voice of our industry and make sure we're seen working alongside council planners, environmental groups, industry and the broader community so that the complex issues we face, the uncertainty we manage and the investments we need to make are better understood."
One project, in particular, captures the kind of impact Clausen hopes the water sector can continue to deliver.
As a high school student, he captained his school's Waterwatch team, monitoring water quality in Ker-Rai Creek, an urban stormwater channel running through Lambton Park in Newcastle. Even then, he was championing change.
"I continued advocating for improvements throughout high school as part of the Waterwatch team. I wrote letters to ministers, Hunter Water and my local council advocating for the creek," he said.
Years later, Clausen found himself contributing to the same waterway from very different perspectives.
"One of the things I've been most proud to see delivered, first as an elected councillor and through the work Hunter Water was undertaking, was the partnership that led to the creek being renaturalised," he said.
Today, the once-degraded drain has become a thriving habitat, with wildlife returning and local residents embracing the space through a Landcare group.
"We're now seeing renaturalisation incorporated into many more stormwater projects. Transforming infrastructure from fairly ordinary, lifeless drains into green, thriving places that bring wildlife and communities together is something I'm really proud of, and I'd love to see us do even more of it," he said.
Reflecting on the next generation of water professionals, Clausen encourages young people to think broadly about where a career in water can take them.
"The key thing I've realised is that water offers incredible diversity as a profession, with opportunities that go well beyond what I imagined when I first joined the industry," he said.
Rather than following a traditional pathway, he believes some of the greatest opportunities come from stepping outside familiar disciplines.
"One of the biggest lessons from my own career is that it doesn't have to follow a linear path. The experiences that have benefited me the most have come from stepping beyond the traditional skill set of being an engineer," he said.
His advice is simple: "I'd encourage people to say yes to opportunities and stay curious about what else might be possible. Don't feel that you need to be pigeonholed as a technical expert in a single field. Think more broadly about where your career might take you".
"Our industry is fundamentally about people and relationships. Take every opportunity to meet others, seek out great mentors and ask for support and advice," he said.
"Technical skills absolutely matter, but so do people skills and everything you gain from building strong relationships."
Nominations for the 2026-27 awards season are now open. Nominate outstanding organisations, individuals, and students here.