(From: UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) publication "Water and Cities: Facts and Figures".)

Half of humanity now lives in cities and, within two decades, nearly 60% of the world's population -5 billion people- will be urban dwellers.

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Every second, the urban population grows by 2 people.

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Coping with the growing needs of water and sanitation services within cities is one of the most pressing issues of this century. Sustainable, efficient and equitable urban water management has never been as important as in today's world.
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The exploding urban population growth creates
unprecedented challenges, among which provision for water and sanitation have been the most pressing and painfully felt when lacking.
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The relationship between water and cities is crucial. Cities require a very large input of freshwater and in turn have a huge impact on freshwater systems.
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Due to rapid urbanization, cities face a growing demand for water and sanitation services. To meet this demand, cities are going deeper and further, which leads to over-exploitation of water resources.
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Cities cannot be sustainable without ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
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Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water courses.
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Some 250 to 500 million m³ of drinking water gets lost in many mega cities each year.
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Saving this amount could provide an additional 10 to 20 million people with drinking water in each mega city.

Conference Overview

Visit the conference site here.

Greater metropolitan areas throughout the world struggle with a myriad of issues to supply their populations with potable drinking water supplies, as well as manage circumstances and situations that affect public health, safety, and the integrity of aging infrastructure.

Sessions will include

• Groundwater and the Cities, Suburbs, and Growth Areas

• Alternative Water Resources: An International Perspective

• Recharge and Low Impact Development

• Managing Water Resources in Urban and Suburban Environments

• Legal and Policy Issues

• Remediation

• Life-sustaining Water Use and Recreation - Can the two co-exist?

Who should Attend

• City and municipal planning discipline professionals
• City, county, and local administrators, including mayors
• Developers
• Power generators and water utilities
• Stormwater and wastewater professionals
• Policymakers (at all levels of government)
• Economists
• Consulting and engineering firms
• Chambers of commerce/industry
• Regulators
• Bankers (and USDA banking arm)
• Academics
• Transportation professionals.

Fees and Registration

Fees

• NGWA member - $475
  
• State, local, federal employees (with ID) - (select membership status)
  
• Nonmember - $675

Four easy ways to register:

• Register online through our secure registration system.

• Register by phone at 800 551.7379 (614 898.7791 outside the United States). Customer service hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. ET.

• Register by fax. Print the registration form (PDF), fill it in, and fax it to 614 898.7786. Our fax line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Register by mail. Print the registration form (PDF), fill it in, and return it with your payment to: NGWA Registrations, PO Box 715435, Columbus, OH 43271-5435 USA.