The whole world came…and then it was

The IWA’s World Water Congress & Exhibition 2024 is now officially in the history books. CWWA, and our partners at the Canadian Association on Water Quality (CAWQ), were so proud to host this premier global event right here in Canada.

By all accounts, it was a great success!

By the numbers:

• 2,700 Congress delegates
• 3,400 additional Visitors to the Exhibition
• 900 Exhibitor reps for hundreds of booths
• 7,000 participants from 108 countries

Just Canada:

• 600+ delegates
• 60+ companies exhibiting

Then there were the hundreds of technical sessions and the hundreds more speakers and panelists and poster presenters. This proved to be a marvellously successful event, as both a technical gathering and as an industry networking event. Of greatest interest to us at CWWA of course was the Utility Leaders Forum, bringing together some 200 water utility leaders from around the world to share experiences and insights.

Believe it or not, this has been an eight-year process from the time we first discussed the possibility of hosting such an international event, making formal application to the IWA, presenting and defending our bid…and then the true work began. This was a MASSIVE undertaking that could not have been considered without knowing we could count on an army of Canadian volunteers. We received incredible support from the City of Toronto, Destination Toronto and the Ontario Government.  

Tremendous thanks to my CWWA team for assisting with the IWA event, and for keeping CWWA operating so well in my pre-occupation with all the IWA stuff. Thank you Kara, Adrian, Louisa, Isabel, Shannon and Lynn. Thank you to my Board members, Richard MacEwen (& sons), Vicki Campbell, Ryan Johnson, Jesse Hulsman, and of course William Fernandes.

I am now going to “try” to thank that army — knowing I will likely miss someone — but I will try. Apologies to anyone I missed. Please indulge me and take a look through this list, and if you know any of these people, say thank you to them the next time you see them, because they helped do an incredible thing for Canada.

The Canadian National Committee/Joint Organizing Committee:

Mike Lywood, William Fernandes, Nancy Kodousek, Yves Comeau, Peter Vanrolleghem (Conference President), Carl Yates, Chris Marvin Elsayed Elbeshbishy, Beth Weir

 IWA Program Committee (Canadians):

Linda Li, Farokh Kakar, Lina Tang, Caetano Dorea

Technical Tours:

Liz Ballantyne

Utility Leaders Forum:

Nancy Kodousek (co-chair), William Fernandes, Peter Nicol, Richard MacEwen, Jesse Hulsman, Carl Bodimeade, Sangeeta Chopra, Carl Yates, Jennifer Crosby

Utility Leaders Receptions:

Eleanor McAteer, Opal Brown, Michele Grenier, Adam Lawrence

Canada Pavilion Reception Sponsors:

Associated Engineering, IPEX, Bishop Water and 25 more companies

Foreign Delegations Committee:

Anthony Parente, Mike Brannon, Richard Walker, Mike Hubble, Mark Connell                   

Water Canada Magazine:

Corinne Lynds, Todd Latham

Young Water Professionals:

Alexandra Webb, Farokh Kakar, Hayat Raza, Jessica LeNoble,  Sylvie Spraakman…and may more! Supported by Elsayed Elbeshbishy (TMU)

The Local Organizing Committee (the real army!):

Mike Lywood (chair and coordinator supreme), Nancy Kodousek, Bing Chen, William Fernandes, Stephanie Gora, Stephanie Guilherme, Pat Coleman, Youngsek Hong, Klas Ohman, Sangeeta Chopra, Linda Li, Yves Comeau, Farokh Kakar, Hayat Raza, Corinne Lynds, Chris Marvin, Diana Qing Tao, Vanessa Chau, Jose Bicudo, Banu Ormeci, Laila Sukkariyyah (WEF) Elsayed Elbeshbishy (volunteer coordinator), Liza Ballantyne (tech tours), Rasha Maal-Bared, Martha Dagnew, Satinder Brar, , Elena Torfs, Gerta Zornes, Wayne Parker, Xiaying Xin, Catherine Mulligan, Bill Malyk, Caroline Duncan, Simon Gautry, Yaldah Azimi, Gamze Kirim, Jennifer Khemai, Kevin McKinley, Eric Hodgins, Lina Tang, Bipro Dhar, Nick Copeland, Tanush Wadhawan, Raj Chavan, Rob Nerenberg, Charles Bott, Eakalak Khan, Nera Uri Carreno,

 Thank you all so very much!!

It’s been like planning a giant wedding (to crazy in-laws) – with so many details and lists, and special requests. We finally welcome the world, run the actual congress and exhibition, and then celebrate with a big dinner and dance (and boy did I dance!). 

And then it was all over! Of course I am relieved and thankful the hard work is finished, but it certainly leaves an empty feeling as I watched the convention centre crew tear it all down and pack it away, while we waved goodbye to so many new friends. Thank you CWWA Board, CAWQ, and all of Canada for your support!