BETTER WATER INFRASTRUCTURES FOR A BETTER WORLD – THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF WATER ASSOCIATIONS

History shows that the economic prosperity of a society and its cultural wealth has always been closely related to the level of development of its water infrastructure. In view of climate change, especially dams and reservoirs, but also other water infrastructure will and has to play an even more important role than in the past as part of mitigation and adaptation measures that are necessary in order to satisfy vital needs in water, renewable energy and food worldwide. International organizations and national governments have shown that there is political will to improve water, energy and food security at a global level through the so-called NEXUS approach that integrates management and governance across sectors and scales. Nevertheless, these political intentions must be translated into concrete actions for the urgently needed enhancement of the worldwide water infrastructure including reservoirs and dams. To gain wide acceptance and to obtain a win-win situation for all stakeholders, such large water infrastructure projects must be designed as multi-purpose projects by multidisciplinary teams recognizing the complexity of these systems and adhering to the principles of sustainable development as expressed in Agenda 2030 of the United Nations. This calls for excellence in engineering, sciences and management. All water associations should contribute with concerted actions to the worldwide vision “better water infrastructure for a better world”