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As said before,

water management deserves far greater attention than is the case today. Fortunately, more and more politicians and decision-makers are realising its importance in battling the other major challenges our world is facing.

Recently, I read "Call for innovative circular economy solutions in the water sector across Europe"; an initiative by the EU encouraging the submission of good ideas to make the water infrastructure circular instead of, as today, linear. In other words: we need to reuse the treated wastewater we have used, leave it in the area for recreational purposes, and let it seep into the underground and become groundwater to keep the circle intact.

This way of thinking is part of the lesson we teach the students of the Advanced Water Cycle Management Course, which is held for the fifth time this year. Again, the course is fully booked, which in itself is more than we could hope for. And in the relatively short period of time the course has existed, it has already gained attention from both Danish authorities and from abroad.

At our AVK Global Management Conference, I had the pleasure of presenting the course to our Water Division Management team. Not only the course, but the reason why the course was created in the first place:

97% of all water on this planet is salt water. 70% of the remaining fresh water is frozen into ice, so, at the end, only 1% of the world's fresh water is available for drinking. Of this amount, 70% goes to agriculture and food production, 20% goes to industry, and only 10% is available for human consumption. Therefore, there is every reason to take care of the water that the world's water utilities have found, purified, and pumped out to its consumers. But even so, you would find an average leakage rate of between 30 to 35% on a global average. What a massive waste, considering all the knowledge and technology the world holds.

Encouraging a sustainable water mindset

As mentioned before, the current water infrastructure is in most places constructed as a linear system. After use, our wastewater is simply sent down the river or into the sea. Goodbye water; see you again in a hundred years. In the best cases, the water is treated before it is sent off, to avoid critical pollution of the environment. But in 80% of cases, it is not, which is also a waste since the treatment process can be used to produce green energy.

As part of the course, the students learn to think about and approach water infrastructure from a holistic perspective. We teach the students that water must stay in its area and be reintroduced to the groundwater aquifers. By also thinking climate protection into the system, so that heavy rain is directed to a designated area, it is possible to achieve environments in or close to cities that can be used recreationally, and thus help boost life and biodiversity.

Digitalisation, too, is a hot topic in the water sector, helping utilities obtain the necessary overview of their water network activities. Also, digitalisation is finding its way into agriculture, where it instructs farmers' irrigation systems to only irrigate the soil when needed, thus saving critical amounts of water as well as time and resources.

You can read more about these subjects in this issue of InterLink, along with a lot of other exciting articles and case stories.

With these words, enjoy reading.

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