The International Water Association

Some years ago, the International Water Association acknowledged that the water sector is facing one of its biggest challenges to make sure there would be enough young professionals that would replace those that in the near future would start to retire.
As a response to this challenge, we created the IWA Young Water Professionals (YWP) Programme.

A programme that, yes, aims to attract young professionals and students to work in the water sector; but also a programme that helps Young Water Professionals to obtain the visibility that they deserve and to develop further their careers: The IWA YWP Programme provides a range of activities, services and initiatives to young professionals and students in the water and wastewater sector under the age of 35. As well as engaging with YWPs, the YWP Programme also connects with employers, academic institutions and other professional associations to ensure that the future needs of the sector are understood and addressed and inter-generational dialogue is created to form links between senior professionals of the sector and young professionals.

When in 2006 I started to manage the YWP Programme, one of my personal goals, being Spanish myself, was to establish a National Young Water Professionals Conference in my own country.

A lot has rained in three years, and the YWP programme is developing very fast:

• Next year we will have five YWPs Conferences
• Four YWPs workshops have already been scheduled for 2011
• After the success of Sydney (4th International YWP Conference), we will open the call for papers for the Budapest 2012 in May 2011 – so start thinking in your papers!
• In 2011 we will publish the 4th edition of the World of Opportunities
• The number of YWPs keeps on growing. By the end of 2010 we would have had nearly double on the 2006 figures
• But most importantly, the Spain National Young Water Professionals Conference series would have been established with its second conference organised in Madrid in June 2011.

Being a Young Water Professional myself, I would really encourage you to participate in the conference. You will not only enjoy the programme that we will put together, but you will also have the opportunity to meet with your peers from around the country; and I can assure that by the end of the conference you would have made some connections that will last through out your career.

I look forward to seeing you all in Madrid.