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U.S. Water Partnership to expand pioneering Water Smart Engagements (WiSE) Program to increase global cooperation on urban water security

The Provincial Waterworks Authority delegation from Phuket Thailand at Jones’ Island Water Reclamation facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA.

Successful U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities program offers blueprint for high impact, peer-to-peer water utility partnerships that advance UN SDG 6

Washington, DC, September 17, 2024 — The U.S. Water Partnership (USWP), a non-profit, public-private partnership established to improve global water security by mobilizing U.S. expertise to support climate resilient water management solutions, announced a planned expansion of its flagship Water Smarts Engagements (WiSE) program. The success of the program has created demand for its expansion in Latin America and other water insecure regions worldwide.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) and implemented by USWP, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and Global Ties U.S., WiSE is a capacity-building program that partners water utilities in other countries with their U.S. counterparts to exchange insights and innovations that strengthen sector governance, financing, institutions, and markets.

Through the U.S.-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Smart Cities Network, five urban water utilities in Southeast Asia were paired with five leading U.S. water utilities to share best practices and catalyze solutions, including non-revenue water reduction, improved operational efficiency, utilization of nature-based solutions, and strengthened disaster response preparedness for urban water systems supplying more than 21 million people. The WISE program delivers on the U.S. Government’s Global Water Strategy (2022-2027) by providing expertise and support to international service providers and regulators.

Speaking today at the U.S.-ASEAN partnership’s five-year celebration, USWP Executive Director Christopher Rich noted that the peer-to-peer model has proved to be a blueprint to advance climate-resilient water management for metropolitan utilities worldwide in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (UN SDG 6): Ensure access to water and sanitation for all.

“Water utilities everywhere face the converging impacts of climate change, population growth, aging infrastructure, watershed depletion, and wastewater treatment capacity. Peer collaboration can scale technologies that conserve energy, recover and reuse water, and minimize water waste while building operator capabilities to adopt measures that increase resilience,” said Rich.

City of Milwaukee Mayor, Cavalier Johnson, greets the Thailand delegation led by Mahamad Graisorn, (former) Director of the Provincial Waterworks Authority, Phuket Branch. 

The Metro Cebu Water District (Philippines) delegation receive a briefing on groundwater saturation zones at Miami-Dade County’s South District Wastewater Treatment Plant in Florida, USA.

A key outcome of the U.S.-ASEAN bilateral water utility partnerships are the long-term relationships forged and the commitments to exchange best practices to improve wastewater discharges, strengthen climate adaptation, and increase efficiencies in operations. Continued cooperation will further catalyze water finance, service delivery, cyber security, and policy solutions.

“The U.S. Water Partnership’s Water Smart Engagements (WiSE) program is evidence of how crucial it is to build long-term, multi-country relationships that exchange knowledge to address the shared complexities of building more resilient cities and communities around the world.  The Department of State is pleased to have supported this initiative for five years, which demonstrates our commitment to implementing the U.S. Global Water Strategy,” said Julien Katchinoff, Water Team Lead at the U.S. Department of State.

“Our future demands resilience,” said Dean Amhaus, President and CEO of the Water Council in Milwaukee, a WiSE utility partner. “Achieving effective adaptation systems for well-functioning water services is essential to reduce vulnerability and ensure future availability. Building resilience through integrated water resource management is critical to mitigating climate change impacts.”

Now in its sixth year, WiSE has promoted sustainable water management for 10 cities – advancing the global effort to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and effectively managed water and sanitation services without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

WiSE U.S. – ASEAN utility pairings comprised:

  • Provincial Waterworks Authority (Phuket, Thailand) with the Water Council (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
  • Saigon Water Corporation (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (San Francisco, California)
  • Permodalan Darul Ta’zim (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) with DC Water (Washington, District of Columbia)
  • Vientiane City Office for Management and Services (Vientiane, Laos) with Clean Water Services (Hillsboro, Oregon)
  • Metro Cebu Water District (Cebu, Philippines) with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (Miami, Florida)

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