In early December of 2023, the IWA Australia YWP Chapter held an online regional mixer to engage with people in the Australian and Southeast Asian regions.
The intention of the mixer was to virtually introduce people across the region, give them some information about IWA and discuss what opportunities we might be able to develop for young water professionals.
As Chair of the newly formed IWA YWP Australia Chapter, Chelsea gave an overview of IWA and how everyone could go about getting more involved with the association. This was followed by an opportunity for different attendees from the online mixer to give an overview of the water industry in their country, the water challenges it faces and any solutions that are being considered.
From Australia, both Annabel and Joseph gave an overview of their experiences of the water industry in Sydney and throughout the Murray Darling Basin in NSW, respectively. From the Solomon Islands, Wilson gave a presentation about the local water authority and how they are trying to tackle local challenges like water leaks and non-revenue water, whilst Ferlisa gave an overview of water security issues from the Fijian perspective.
The next component of the mixer was an interactive workshop with a Mural board. During the session all attendees were encouraged to write down how they thought we could better collaborate as YWPs across the region and potential initiatives that we could start to explore. This included ideas like connecting over LinkedIn, developing similar online mixer or webinar events, and even developing opportunities for YWPs to travel abroad to relevant water conferences.
Overall, the first online mixer hosted by the new IWA Australia YWP Chapter was a great way for the committee to kick-off engagement with our broader Southeast Asian region whilst allowing all attendees to get a better understanding of how their neighbours tackle challenges in their water industries.
by Water Source
