The Water Wheel September-October 2016

Abstract

Fluid Thoughts Fluid Thoughts Reflections on World Water Week 2016 At first glance the setting for World Water Week 2016 (WWW2016), the annual gathering in Stockholm, Sweden, of thought leaders, policy makers, advocacy groups and academics to deliberate on the global water scarcity and poor quality challenges, is paradoxical. Stockholm comprises 14 islands set in pristine Lake Malaren just before it meets the Baltic with some of the best water services in the world. But the half-life of the paradox rapidly diminishes as Mayor, Karin Wanngard, reminds us, that while you can now virtually drink the water directly from the lake outside the City Hall, 19th century Stockholm was an unhealthy place – a city that was not sewered and had no piped water. This resembles many cities around the world in the throes of the 21st century challenges of rapid inadequately planned for urbanisation, with poor infrastructure and inadequate services.

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