Highlights of the Upcoming WaTER Conference

The 2013 University of Oklahoma (OU) International WaTER Conference is only 5 weeks away! The Conference theme "Synergy at the Interface: Integrating Technology, Social Entrepreneurship and Behavior Change" is designed to bring together participants from multiple disciplines responding to the UN Millennium Development Goals of bringing water and sanitation to developing countries.  Attendees will include water and sanitation experts from academia, industry, NGOs, government and foundations.

A Native American traditional dance opens the Conference in 2011.

The Conference consists of two full days of meetings (Sept. 23-24), followed by a half-day of optional workshops (Sept. 25). If you have not yet registered for the Conference, you can do so by clicking here.

Just a few of the highlights of this year's Conference are listed here. These highlights include:

• poster and concurrent paper sessions devoted to both technical and non-technical topics and sectors - e.g., groundwater and well-drilling challenges, WASH innovation, capacity-building, climate change impacts, gender and social equity, fluoride effects and mitigation, ecological engineering, socioeconomic context, behavior change and culture

• five keynote speakers who are leaders in their fields

• an outstanding Water Prize award banquet in the elegant hall of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History 

• optional half-day workshop on social entrepreneurship - using the business model canvas to build sustainable WASH solutions

• optional half-day workshop on field methods in water and sanitation - manual and hydraulic well-drilling, biosand filter construction, household water treatment systems, and ecolatrine construction

• the chance to network in small-group settings with practitioners from a dozen developing nations and many other places across the globe.

Participants in the 2011 Conference learn the manual drilling technique used by Water4 Foundation.

Click here for a schedule of events.