The future of water infrastructure services in an impacted world

How will water infrastructure services change by 2040?

Linked below is a paper and presentation I gave to the Climate Smart Engineering conference in Melbourne in November 2023. The paper looks 10 to 20 years into the future – nominally 2040 – to explore what today’s engineering graduates might be doing mid-career in the water services sector. Similarly, those who are already mid-career can look ahead to what we might be doing approaching retirement.

The attendance and travel were courtesy of AECOM.

Abstract

Our planet is changing rapidly – ecology, climate, oceans and financial systems – and humanity needs to rapidly reduce its impacts, as evidenced by the IPCC AR6 Synthesis report released March 2023. This paper looks 10 to 20 years into the future to explore what the current water engineering graduates might be doing mid-career. The paper and presentation will generate interest and excitement for the future of the water industry and help water engineers prepare for purposeful services to their local and global community.

Included is a comparison of the concepts of green growth, sustainable development, carbon net-zero, net-positive, regenerative, degrowth and postgrowth. It will demonstrate the improbability of de-coupling the demand for energy and finite resources from economic growth, and so demonstrate that GDP in the industrialised world will need to decline to assure a viable biosphere.

With references from scientific papers and publications, the author will expand upon several trends that are expected to evolve in coming decades, including:

• The likely increase in manufactured water production (both desalinated and recycled) for people and crops.
• How water services will change as economic activity and affordability decrease, and as materials availability reduces. It will explore what ‘sufficient’ water services might look like.
• How socially equitable water services will improve life in underdeveloped regions in Australia and globally, and the role for our engineers in this.
• As arid and equatorial regions suffer sustained droughts and crop failures, millions of climate refugees may be ’allocated’ by the United Nations to wealthy temperate countries like Australia. What water services will be required when far more immigrants than Australia has ever seen begin arriving?

The reader and audience will learn that:

• Water production will become more industrial in nature.
• Water services planning for new Australian cities will be very exciting and challenging
• Water engineering services will have far more purpose.