The Turkish cities of Istanbul, Kayseri and Trabzon will participate in a collaborative project between international and Turkish water experts and local ministerial experts in an effort to create an integrated, more sustainable model for urban water management. The Turkish Ministry of the Environment and Forestry and the International Water Assn. (IWA) have agreed to implement IWA’s Cities of the Future Program with the three partner cities over a three-year period.
Experts from the Istanbul Technical University, the Bogazici Institute of Environmental Sciences, other Turkish university collaborators and IWA international experts will provide models, technologies and approaches to meet global standards in urban water management. The project will culminate in an international Cities of the Future Conference in Istanbul in 2013.
“Cities of the Future represents an acknowledgement by leaders in the water sector that the current, most predominately used techniques for water supply, wastewater treatment, and storm water management do not reflect the growing realities of a changing global context,” said Dr Glen Daigger, president-elect of IWA. “Human population growth, rising incomes and increased urbanization are colliding with resource limits and global warming to create an imperative for change in both the developing and developed regions.
“Cities of the Future is about ‘learning by doing.' Turkish and international experts will combine the facts on the ground with emerging global best practice gleaned from leading edge projects from around the world.”
The next global Cities of the Future workshop will be at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition Sept. 19 to 24, 2010 in Montreal, QC, Canada.
Source: IWA
