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DRAFT Minutes of the IWA Smart Water Portfolio cluster Workshop

Wednesday 22 September, 2010, Montreal

The Smart Water Cluster workshop in Montreal was a concrete result of The Hague
meeting in April, 2010. The goal was to identify and present objectives and case
studies, as well as to define further activities of the cluster. In Montreal, further steps
were suggested, discussed and decided.
The workshop was composed of presentations and ample discussions among
workshop attendees and specialist groups. The presentations in the morning attracted
many people. Due to some overlaps with Cities of the Future workshop, the number
of attendees was reduced in the afternoon session. The presentations are attached to
these meeting minutes.
The event was opened by Mr. Glen Daigger, IWA President, who underlined the
lively interest of IWA in the potential which the cluster provides. He pointed out the
idea of this cluster is to create framework for SGs to see the value of participation in
the cluster, . The cluster is an additional mechanism to leverage existing SGs and is
intended to produce a bigger impact from the work of relevant SGs.
1. Summary of the presentations
a. Mark Beuhler: Smart Water, New Water, Wise Water: Different Views of the
Same Thing
With his presentation, Mark opened the floor for a discussion on smart water cluster,
and raised the question of the concept, scope, scale of smart water cluster. He
proposed the aspects we need to consider as smart water cluster. Some aspects are:
e.g. financial aspects, energy use, creating index, thinking about questions of how to
measure, how to manage and which approach we should be thinking about the cluster:
cascading (multiple uses of the same cubic meter of water)?
b. Judi Janssen:
Judi gave a good example on the portfolio approach Australia is using. In combination
with traditional water resources, Australia has considered desalination and wastewater
recycling. Water efficiency is the vital consideration in Australia. She raised a
question on: how to influence the planning & integrated sustainable cities.
c. Mong Hoo Lim: Confronting the Challenges - Singapores Experience in Water
Reuse
MongHoo presented a successful portfolio case (4 taps or sources of new water)
that Singapore is now implementing. He pointed out that it is not only about
techniques, they also need to work on the public acceptance and strong political

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grassroots support. Several future challenges include efficient, energy use and water
quality, etc.
2. Panel discussion
Water industries should reach out to other industries. But it is difficult. Mark gave
examples of urban, agriculture and power supplies, who in general fight with each
other, to show the need to get different sectors together. Water reuse has been one of
the solutions. Judi gave an example of smart metering to raise public awareness on
how much water they consumed and they can save, and showed how simple actions
can give good effects. Mong Hoo suggested that regulations should have penalties for
hose who waste too much water and also suggested calling for methods to reduce the
energy consumption by desalination.
There are discussion relating to what is smart, does it also mean cheap? Is it about
entire service? And how is decentralization fitting into the picture?
Mark: Smart also means less energy consumption;
Roger: Cost of water, energy and others means lost money, not smart;
Dominique: It cannot be completely decentralization; Mark: decentralization is scary,
especially to existing water utilities; Judi thinks decentralization is the future,
although risky but it is also opportunities.
Glen pointed out that we should define the matrix of smart water, which brings in the
SG leaders from the crowded for further discussion.
3. SGs discussion
Many SG leaders attended the workshop and gave introductions and their thoughts on
the smart water concept, how the SGs can fit into the smart water and what can be
done.
Jiri Marsalek, Urban drainage SG Secretary: The concept of Smart Water Cluster has
overlaps with Cities of the future. Urban drainage can contribute to smart water
regarding flood protection and urban drainage because water supply can be smart but
also dangerous. Rain water harvesting can be one way forward.
Mooyoung Han, Rain Water harvesting SG Chair: Rainwater harvesting and ground
water recharge from rain water is very important but it can be challenging to water
industries because this does not give them financial benefits. Rain water harvesting
needs governmental subsidies and public awareness. Judi supports the idea of
rainwater harvesting and decentralized systems.
Valentina Lazarova, Water Reuse SG Chair: questions relating to: smart water for
whom? Where? With good water quality? Cheap? How to approach it? What is the
relation with cities of the future and food security? What are the key aspects of
success? How clean we need to water to be?

She suggested the integrated water management approach for domestic, industrial and
agricultural uses but it is difficult. Further more, integrated water management is
linked to the interrelations between water resources, whether to treat wastewater to
potable water standards, how to do storm water management, what about urban
drainage, water salinity, pollution source control, etc. All above raises the question on
what are the objectives, missions, definition of smart water cluster.
Jonathan, SG water reuse: the definition of smart water needs to give more
information about the function of the cluster, and suggested to changing the cluster
name to alternative water sources.
Jan Hofman, Nano and Water SG Chair: Smart water gives good reasoning &
thinking of how to use water. Solutions depend on local needs & situation. Smart
Water can be: i. beneficial to society; ii. Not water alone, also energy, so it needs
smart use of water; iii: it needs integrated way to look at; iv. No treatment can remove
everything from water, so unknown compounds may be harmful to public health &
environment; v. nano tech. SG can add to smart water with technical side.
John Anderson: Suggested the cluster be called Smart Water Portfolio Cluster.
Peter Steen Mikkelsen, Urban Drainage SG Chair: Urban Drainage group deals more
with water quantities than with water quality. It includes the consideration of water
both as a resource for supply and as a hazard (i.e. flooding). In many old cities, they
do not want to change water sources, so new water sources such as rain water can be
very difficult to add. It is important to create solutions that have more functions, e.g.
blue-green infrastructure. City planning has no awareness of multiple water sources,
and this can lead to difficulties for smart water at the institutional level. Peter needed
to confirm if urban drainage SG has close link with the cluster.
Chung-Hak Lee, Membrane technology SG Chair: Membrane technology is important
to the cluster. Smart Water needs to be smart in cost, energy and quality, which
somehow depends on the membrane used in the treatment process. Therefore, the
involvement of membrane specialist is very important.
Michael Moore: smart water may mean flexible, intelligent way to manage water
cycle. The integrated approach needs to be good to environmental health with various
components.
Darren Sun Delai, Chemical Industries SG Chair: Chemical Industries produce
wastewater so need cost-effective way and a smart way to use/reuse water.
The discussion then focused on how smart water needs to be at a given scale and with
right purpose. We cannot cover everything relating to water. Questions become: does
it involve the whole water cycle or part of it? In which scale smart water considers?
What is the measure?

Session two ended with a summary from Jonathan Clement on some points relating to
above questions: i. Narrow the scope of smart water to alternative water resources +
water efficiency; ii. Avoiding duplications with Cities of the Future program; iii. The
scope is linked with what we want to do; iv. It needs to be an integrated approach; v.
it needs inputs from SGs; vi. It needs action plans and vii. Define the limit.
4. Discussions on organizing cluster activities
The session 3 in the afternoon focused on how to organize cluster activities. The
starting point is real world successful cases relating to efficiency, alternatives,
centralized vs. decentralized, raising awareness, etc.
Attendees in the session 3 were: Glen, Mooyoung, Jan Hofman, Dominique Olivier,
Dominique Gatel, Mark, Peter Steen, MongHoo, Hong, John Anderson, Jiri, Jonathan
and In Kim.
Mark proposed to have a symposium on integrated water management, including
efficiency, conservation, people to water, etc.
Glen suggested that if we organize workshop, the first step is to have steering
committee of the workshop. And we need to interface with Cities of the Future
program.
The discussion then focused on who would be the audience (SGs leaders; IWA
members, decision makers/politicians, etc), and selection of utilities, areas of focus,
diversity of different countries (Mooyoung suggested to have international coverage),
etc.
Glen suggested the collection of good examples in developing countries to provide
options for other developing countries.
The steering committee of the workshop could start with the people who have
attended the session discussion and to be confirmed afterwards. Several things need to
be done: a. to setup a smart water portfolio forum (under wiki or separate), b. key
history needs to be sent to relevant SGs and the reasons of the cluster and, c. to get
sufficient inputs from relevant SGs.
In Kim is organizing a new journal with the tentative name of Journal of water reuse
and desalination, which might be an option for smart water portfolio people to submit
relevant papers.
5. Outcomes and action points
Outcomes:
o Successfully completed workshop
o Name change of smart water cluster to Smart Water Portfolio

o Moog Hoo and Judi, together with some key people (program committee of
the workshop) take the lead on organizing the Smart Water Portfolio cluster
workshop.
Actions need to take for organizing the workshop:
o Circulate documents and minutes (Hong, Mark, Dominique)
o Confirmation on the workshop steering committee (attached list)
o Involve relevant SGs (all and Hong);
o Form the steering committee (the initial list is attached for consultation)
o Collect case studies (steering committee of the workshop);
o Invitation only workshop: time, place, themes/topics, finance (Singapore?),
number of people (50-100?) and who to invite, and expected outcomes (e.g.
draft matrix of smart water portfolio), etc. (steering committee of the
workshop).

ANNEX:
1. List of session 3 attendees of the workshop (initial workshop steering committee)
Name
Dominique Gatel
Dominique Olivier
Glen Daigger
In Kim
Jan Hofman
Jiri Marzalek
John Anderson
Jonathan Clement
Mark Beuhler
Mong Hoo Lim
Mooyoung Han
Peter Steen
Mikkelsen

SGs and organizations

Veolia
Veolia
IWA
SG on water reuse
SG on nano technology
SG on Urban Drainage
Afton Water Solutions Pty Ltd
SG on water reuse
HDR Engineering, Inc., USA
Singapore PUB
SG on Rain Water Harvesting

email
dominique.gatel@veoliaeau.fr
dominique.olivier@veoliaeau.fr
gdaigger@ch2m.com
iskim@gist.ac.kr
jan.hofman@kwrwater.nl
Jiri.Marsalek@ec.gc.ca
ja.aftonwater@gmail.com
jclement@pwntechnologies.nl
Mark.Beuhler@hdrinc.com
LIM_Mong_Hoo@pub.gov.sg
myhan@snu.ac.kr

SG on Urban Drainage

psmi@env.dtu.dk

Confirmed
y
y
y
y
n
y
y
y
y
y
y

2. Relevant SGs (including anaerobic digestion, urban drainage, small water, and task
group green house gas)

(SG on Anaerobic Digestion)

SG on Benchmarking and Performance Assessment
SG on Efficient Urban Water Management
SG on Ground Water Restoration and Management
SG on Health-related Microbial Biology
SG on Membrane Technology
SG on Nano and Water - Application of Nanoparticles, Nanoengineered
Materials and Nanotechnology
SG on Rain Water Harvesting
(SG on Small Water and Wastewater Systems)
SG on Urban Drainage
SG on water loss
SG on Water Reuse
(TG on Green House Gas)