Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest water conference is set to take place in Kirikiriroa Hamilton next week, bringing together experts and leaders from across the water sector for two and a half days of discussions, presentations and workshops.

There will also be a pre-conference full day symposium on Enabling Local Water to be Done Well (24 Sept). See conference programme : https://www.waternzconference.org.nz/programme/

The Water New Zealand Conference and Expo is expected to attract more than 1000 delegates and exhibitors along with more than 100 keynote, thought leadership, technical presentations and workshops running across seven parallel streams.

The Minister of Local Government, Simeon Brown will be the opening guest speaker followed by Waikato Tainui chief executive, Donna Flavell.

Commerce Commission chair, John Small will provide an update on the new economic regulatory environment while Queensland-based Unitywater chief executive, Anna Jackson will share experiences of managing a council-owned water utility.

Other water sector leaders speaking at the conference include Taumata Arowai chief executive Allan Prangnell along with the chair of the Government’s Local Water Done Well Technical Advisory Group, Andreas Heuser.

Prior to the conference, there will also be an indepth discussion on the future of water services under the Government’s Local Water Done Well policies.

Presenters at the full day preconference symposium (Tuesday 24 September) include regulatory, local government and infrastructure, financial and legal experts.

Local Water Done Well will also be the subject of a panel discussion at the conference (Thursday, 26 September) . Panelists include Watercare chief executive, Dave Chambers, Central Hawkes Bay District Council Mayor, Alex Walker and Central Otago District Council Mayor, Tim Cadogan.

As well as the new water services delivery models, other themes at the conference include valuing water, climate change challenges, freshwater regulatory modelling and interweaving mātauranga Māori into water management.

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