Page 5 - Foundation for Water research Events Diary June 2022 onwards

12 – 13 July 2022 19 July 2022

EUROPEAN WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT CIEEM 2022 SUMMER CONFERENCE:
CONFERENCE Facilitating Nature’s Recovery through
Birmingham, UK Environmentally-friendly Land Management
Online: Zoom
NEW ENTRY experience and practical solutions Land used for agriculture comprises approximately 70% of the NEW ENTRY
Europe’s leading wastewater conference sharing operational
Over the past 14 years the European Waste Water UK’s land surface. Restoring habitats through environmentally-
Management (EWWM) has established itself as the leading friendly farm management practices is essential if we are to
European wastewater conference that considers all aspects meet our 2030 ambitions for nature’s recovery and tackle
of the treatment cycle from the sewer to discharge of final climate change. Effective and up-to-date advice and support
will be critically important in helping farmers and other land
effluent and the impacts on receiving watercourses.
The event provides a forum to network and collaborate managers access funding and adopt practices that deliver
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with over 200 wastewater professionals from across the world better outcomes for nature and the environment.
and discuss the needs of the European water industry. This online Summer Conference examines the role of the
2022 event details coming soon. farm environment adviser and how it is evolving in line with
For further details see the website: emerging national and regional environmental and agricultural
(https://conferences.aquaenviro.co.uk/events/conferences/ policies, priorities and funding opportunities. Delegates will
hear a range of presentations covering key topics such as
NEW ENTRY 14 July 2022 priorities, offering blended finance opportunities and delivering NEW ENTRY
european-waste-water-management-conference/)
strategic agri-environment schemes, training and skills for
email: frances.woodhead@aquaenviro.co.uk
farm environment advisers, taking a nature-based solutions
approach to advice, managing conflicting and competing
INSTITUTE OF WATER ANNUAL
at a landscape as well as a local scale.

CONFERENCE 2022: Towards 2030 – meeting
Further information available on the conference
public expectations on climate and the
website: (http://events.cieem.net/EventsEventPages/190720
environment
22000000CIEEM2022SummerConferenceFacilitatingNatures
RecoverythroughEnvironmentallyfriendlyLandManagement.
Aspire, Leeds, UK
aspx) email: joannaoliver@cieem.net
The water industry and its regulators have not changed much
since the present arrangements were set up at privatisation
AUGUST
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in 1989. A sharp increase in investment (and price) in the
first ten years after privatisation did much to deliver a step
change in environmental and service performance, but 3 August 2022
since 2003/4 the sector has been in something of a steady
state. Investment levels across the AMPs have been pretty WILDER CARBON PROJECT
steady as have prices and environmental progress has been Online: Zoom
incremental. Many carbon offsetting projects have rightly been criticised
NEW ENTRY for so long the major investment driver, has gone with Brexit thorough set of standards and clear reporting requirements, NEW ENTRY
We are now at an inflection point. European legislation,
for “greenwashing” and threatening biodiversity. Without a
to be replaced by a much more immediate pressure, namely
landowners keen to get into the underregulated carbon offset
public outrage at storm discharges, regarded as normal

markets could end up worsening the natural environment,
engineering by most in the sector for many years. This
risking biodiversity and facilitating corporate purchasing of
citizen regulation, fuelled by the ready availability of data,
offsets in place of feasible emissions reduction.
None of us in that system have a real idea how to respond to
figures in sustainability has been assembled from government,
has totally disrupted our hitherto orderly regulatory system. To try and address this an expert standards board of leading
this disruption.
finance and conservation. Wilder Carbon tasked them with
Companies tend to be defensive about their own
performance and press for the current system to give them developing a sector-leading programme for assuring the quality
of our projects. The standards lay out how we will ensure our
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a better result and more investment. When regulators are pathfinder projects pass rigorous tests on providing genuine
under pressure for not being tough enough, their default carbon capture and improved wildlife.
position is to be tougher, or at least to appear so. Government The standards outline more than 50 new requirements that
wants to see problems fixed quickly but balks at the costs to need to be met to be considered high integrity enough to qualify
consumers already facing energy price increases, tax rises as a Wilder Carbon project or credit purchaser. These include
and the effects of inflation. project deliverers demonstrating a track record for maintaining
NEW ENTRY But the public don’t just want cleaner rivers, they also want achieve a minimum measurable biodiversity net gain of 50%. NEW ENTRY
and restoring sites, the ability to capture significant amounts of
investment to tackle climate change and improve resilience.
carbon for at least 50 years, and the requirement of projects to
At this inflection point, it would be the triumph of hope over
experience to expect our current industry arrangements to
Further information available on the website:
deliver enough to meet what the public wants. Although the
(https://www.ciwem.org/events/wilder-carbon-project-
next price review is likely to take a similar shape to the last, it

webinar) email: Michaela.james@southeastwater.co.uk
is timely for us to take a step back as industry professionals
and reflect on how we respond to this sharp change in public
expectations and whether we need to organise ourselves
differently to meet them.
Further information available on the conference
website: (https://www.instituteofwater.org.uk/events/)
email: abbie@instituteofwater.org.uk
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