Norman is President of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). He was Chief Scientist at Welsh Water with responsibility for policy relating to wastewater treatment and the environment as a whole and since 2000 has worked as an independent consultant on a variety of environmental issues, mainly relating to the water industry. In 2001 Norman was awarded the OBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to the water industry and to environmental protection.
Presentation Title
The Benefits of Working in Partnership to Provide Necessary Water Resources while Protecting the Environment
Abstract
The need to provide sufficient water of the appropriate quality for a wide range of uses is becoming more and more important throughout the world. But it is equally vital to protect the environment. For this reason it is necessary to bring together professionals in both water resources and environmental protection and encourage them to develop holistic thinking for the project as a whole. As is already well known in Singapore, such an approach can enable workers in each field to understand better the needs and priorities of the other.
The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) was established by Royal Charter with the aim of providing support, education and training to its members and to establish and maintain appropriate standards of professional behaviour and practice. It is unique in that it is a professional body focussed on both water and the wider environment and is a charity, which means that its overall purpose must be to provide public benefit.
My Presidential theme is Working together in Partnership. This is intended to highlight the benefits of a holistic approach to any project or scheme. Throughout this process it is important to seek multi-party stakeholder views and act on the outcome of these. Such an approach seems particularly relevant here in Singapore where the concept is already in place through the Environment & Water Industry Programme Office (EWI), and the successes can be seen in some of Singapore’s ABC projects. And it is especially appropriate that this part of the conference covers Integrated Urban Planning. However, in practice it can require considerable effort to put in place the detailed partnership working that is required.
Within CIWEM are a number of geographical branches and special interest groups and we are very glad to see the start of a Singapore Branch. The CIWEM Urban Drainage Group has already been active in Singapore, contributing a presentation on the subject to one of PUB’s H2O seminars in February 2014. Following the success of this they were instrumental in organising a specialist co-located event on urban drainage at SIWW 2014, with especial reference to the challenges faced throughout the modelling stages.
It is clear that the use of CIWEMs extensive networks and global experiences can help to bring together best practice both here in Singapore and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific Region.