WISA 2012 “Waterfootprints”
6 - 10 May 2012
The Water Institute for Southern Africa (WISA) biennial conference and exhibition was held from 6-10 May 2012, at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, South Africa. The theme for WISA 2012 was “Water Footprints”, and the conference aimed to attract experts and key actors from within the fields of water and waste water, providing a platform to share good practice, knowledge and showcase products and services emerging within the sector.
Over 120 technical papers were presented and over 11 capacity building and training workshop sessions were also undertaken during the conference. The representative from ICLEI Africa, Ms Faith Chihumbiri, attended the “Orange Day” at WISA 2012, an event organized by the Dutch government. Different stakeholders during the session gave presentations and discussions on the integral, typically Dutch approach to water issues and the special relationship the country and its residence have with water and various ways in which South Africa could learn from the Dutch best practices. In addition the event hosted South Africa’s Blue Drop Awards, with Minister Molewa, highlighting the number of municipalities that were awarded Blue Drop Status increased significantly from 66 municipalities last year to 98 municipalities.
The top scoring municipality 2012’s Blue Drop report was, Ekurhuleni with a score of 98.95%, followed by the City of Johannesburg with 98.92% and Mogale City with 98.79%. The next highest scoring municipalities were Ethekweni, Tlokwe and the City of Cape Town, respectively.
