IAIA Special Symposium Water and Impact Assessment: Investment, Infrastructure, Legacy

Water is the most important resource on this planet, and a significant proportion of global investment and infrastructure is concerned with ensuring its supply, management, quality, and transportation. Every €1 invested in clean water can yield €4–€13 in economic returns, but when its use becomes unsustainable and its supply limited, polluted, or even too abundant during flood events, our society and its infrastructure can fail.

All forms of development interact with water at a physical, policy, regulatory, social, or cultural level. In the face of future climate change adaptation and mitigation, new infrastructure will need to be resilient to both current and future hydrological risks. The impact assessment (IA) of water effects for new infrastructure or water-relevant policies, plans, and programmes (through EIA or SEA, for example) is a complex and critical step within the appraisal of investment, operational, or future sustainable management cycles.

WATER TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:

• IA applications in the water sector, such as water management, quality, drought, storage, transport, flood protection, abstraction, and catchment/river/aquifer management.
• The consideration of water in IA in other sectors.
• Catchment and landscape scale plans and strategies.
• Consideration of ecosystem services.
• National models and regulatory frameworks.
• Water quality as it relates to public water supply, waste water treatment and health issues.

Many more topics are proposed, along with training courses, technical visits, and networking opportunities. 

We hope to see you in Lincoln!