Anders Berntell
2030 Water Resources Group

"I think the focus of the international discussions on water has changed a lot. 10 years ago there were lots of discussion about the privatization of water, that’s gone. The human right to water is recognized and within the water discussion there’s much more focus on management of water resources, the water-food-energy-climate change nexus, and on the scarcity of water resources. 10 years ago it was still very much focused on water supply and sanitation issues. The focus of international discussions has broadened quite substantially. And the realization of the water resource challenges has of course increased. The involvement of the water using private sector is dramatically different now compared with 10 years ago. Early on private sector involvement was primarily the big water utilities, now we see all the big companies in food and beverage, energy, and manufacturing, they are all involved now.

Water Resources Group has contributed to creating attention on the water resource challenges. The emphasis on the potential gap between water demand and available supply of water resources in different countries has opened a lot of eyes, also outside of the traditional water sector. We’re getting the private sector to sit down with government and civil society and discuss what we should do to use water more efficiently and how we can do that together.

I hope we will continue to see really collective action around water resource management in a much stronger way than what we see today. We must ensure all the various sectors and users are involved."