Young Water Professionals do not need to wait for seniority to help build a more sustainable water future, they can start by defining their purpose, communicating it clearly and bringing others with them.
For Melbourne Water Sustainability Champion Mandhy Senewiratne, sustainability is not simply a technical discipline or collection of environmental targets, it is a commitment to leave communities and ecosystems better off.
Delivering a keynote address at the AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals Conference in Melbourne, Senewiratne encouraged emerging water professionals to think ambitiously about the contribution they want to make and to develop the skills and relationships needed to turn that ambition into action.
Senewiratne said sustainability is often treated as interchangeable with environmental management and social procurement, but they will not produce the same outcomes; and whilst the skillsets required to deliver environmental management may overlap with sustainability, there is minimal overlap with social procurement
Environmental management focuses on managing environmental impacts and meeting our environmental obligations. Sustainability is a broader concept that balances environmental, social and economic outcomes.
“Environment is maintaining the status quo and managing environmental risk on the project to ensure continuance. Sustainability is leaving it in a better state than we found it,” she said.
At a project level, that distinction can reshape investment decisions. Rather than planting a few trees, a project might regenerate an ecosystem. Instead of making a one-off community donation, it could build skills, employment and economic capacity that continue well beyond construction.
“If you really wanted to be sustainable and leave things in a better state than we found them, why not train people who need a better future?” Senewiratne said.
For YWPs aspiring to improve sustainability outcomes, the challenge is to look beyond compliance and consider whether an initiative will create meaningful and lasting benefits for the people and places it is intended to support.
The first step towards creating change is deciding what sustainability means to you. A strong sustainability vision must be specific enough to guide decisions, Senewiratne said, and defining what sustainability is not, can be just as important as describing what it is.
“You need to work out exactly what your vision is and what it’s not,” she said. Her own understanding has evolved throughout her career, particularly after returning to Australia and learning from Traditional Owners about caring for Country and considering the legacy left for those who follow.
Senewiratne now frames her sustainability vision around “becoming a better ancestor for the next seven generations, encompassing all creatures of land, sea and air”.
“When you’re working out your vision, it’s important to take the time to decide what it is you want to do. My vision has changed over time as I’ve grown, learned and understood. But work out where you stand and stay true to it,” she said.
Senewiratne said integrity, which scored 4000 times higher than love as an emotion on the SPANSE scale) will be essential as sustainability decisions frequently involve competing pressures, incomplete information and resistance to change. A clearly defined purpose allows professionals to test the compromises and choices they encounter throughout project delivery.
A compelling sustainability vision cannot create change if other people do not understand or support it.
Senewiratne said technical professionals are often expected to explain complex projects to communities, including why a road must close, why a tree may need to be removed or why substantial infrastructure investment is necessary.
“Your job is to convince the public to let you do that project. How are you going to find the skills to explain all of that, plus a pipe deterioration model, to the community? That’s the skill you need to have,” Senewiratne said.
“There are plenty of people with incredible technical skills. My unique point of difference, and what I needed for my role, was communication. You need to have your facts and be able to pass them on to someone else, i.e. the story, the message. You need to win your audience over. So become a storyteller. A messenger.”
For YWPs, developing communication skills alongside technical expertise can help transform good ideas into decisions, investment and community support.
No individual can move an ambitious sustainability vision into action alone, Senewiratne said, and professional networks provide far more than career opportunities. Networking creates access to advice, knowledge, collaboration and support when challenges emerge.
“You are only as strong as your network. Put your time in, and it will come back threefold," she said.
Senewiratne has seen the same principle at work within Melbourne Water, where a small group of sustainability professionals and delivery partners (her five people as she describes them) helped elevate sustainability across the organisation’s capital program.
“While I’m generally considered the voice of sustainability for Melbourne Water, those are the people behind me who helped propel it to the next stage,” she said.
YWPs can begin building these relationships well before they hold senior positions. By connecting with colleagues, mentors and peers, they can strengthen their ideas, learn from different perspectives and find collaborators who share their ambitions.
Senewiratne’s message to YWPs was that creating a more sustainable future does not begin with a particular job title, but by deciding what you stand for, continuing to build your knowledge and learning how to communicate a vision that others can understand and support.
“Ask your senior people for more training and more opportunities. Take your development back, connect with people and don’t stop learning," she said.
Interested in connecting with other emerging water leaders? Learn more about AWA’s Young Water Professionals community here.