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WISA PRESIDENT'S COMMENT

WATER SEWAGE & EFFLUENT APRIL/MAY 2001

CAPTION: Dr Ralph Heath, President of the Water Institute of Southern Africa.

Miles to go before we sleep

My first task as president is to thank Pumezo Jonas (immediate past-president) for doing the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) an excellent service and for the efficient manner in which the WISA head office is now operating - this will make my term as president a lot easier.

What do I, Ralph Heath, have to offer WISA and what would I like to be remembered for having done during my 15-month tenure?

I believe that WISA, as it is today, has responded to the challenges of the new millennium and the challenges of our Rainbow Nation:

• if we look at the gender and race of the two previous presidents (yes, with me a pale male, it could be seen as starting the cycle again), but Tony Bouwers has been appointed Second Vice-president;
   

• the number of previously-disadvantaged persons at WISA 2000 (over 30%);
   

• the quest for broader membership categories in response to changing needs;
   

• more conferences and workshops organised by Divisions and Branches last year than ever before; and
   

• the initiative of 15% of individual membership, geographically, being given to Branches indicates that WISA recognises the level of maturity of these Branches to use this money efficiently, closer to their roots.

These are only a few of the initiatives that have resulted from the challenges before us.

I am under no illusion - we have "miles to go before we sleep" as WISA is under constant threat of becoming defunct by not keeping up with world trends, not supplying an efficient service, not listening to our members' needs, and competition for membership within the water, waste and environmental sectors.

I do, however, believe in the saying "if it ain't broken, leave it as it is".

WISA, as a Section 21 company, has come along in leaps and bounds, with respect to the administrative services we offer our members.

The full-time chief executive officer, Internet site, membership database, secretariat for other institutes, as well as full-time conference and workshop organiser, are just a few of the new administrative services in place.

Yes, we need to sharpen the pencil but I believe these services are streamlined and starting to run efficiently.

To come back to the question of what I would like to be remembered for during my presidential period - I would like to enable the following initiatives to facilitate further ownership by WISA's members:

• A streamlined, professional organisation that offers an efficient administrative service to its members, Divisions and Branches. Willie L�tz is actively working on this and we have employed the services of two new people with skills complementary to our needs.
   

• We will embark on a series of mini working sessions with our members, industrial leaders and Council to give feedback on what they require from WISA. These sessions will enable us to revisit our aims and will be the start of a strategic realignment process that will be communicated to Council at the September meeting. This initiative is geared at us actively trying to become more responsive to our membership's needs.
   

• WISA's current role in Southern Africa needs to be reconfirmed. South Africa's future water needs are part of the region and WISA must fulfil its obligations in a regional sense.
   

• WISA's international role needs to be determined. In the past, we attended the Water Environment Federation’s technical conference (WEFTEC) - is this the best conference to attend, if any at all?
   

• The South-South collaboration between Australia, South Africa and South America needs to be assessed as to what benefits there are for WISA members. As part of this initiative, Willie L�tz visited the Australian Water Association (Oz Water) Conference in April (editor's note: this will be past tense when it is published in the April/May issue). We look forward to his feedback.
   

• The global trend of linking all aspects of the environment in a holistic manner needs to be assessed and WISA needs to keep up with these developments and, if necessary, play a proactive role.
   

• The Earth Summit 2002 on sustainable development or RIO+10 takes place in South Africa next year (August/ September). WISA needs to play an active role in ensuring that water and Southern Africa is high on this agenda. At the last Council meeting, it was agreed that WISA would pursue this initiative with the lead agency Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry. It is envisaged that WISA would use next year's WISA 2002 conference as a launch pad for the water issues to be presented at the RIO+10 conference.

The above ideas are ambitious but, through team spirit within WISA's membership, I believe that next year will be exciting and WISA will be better positioned to play a more meaningful role regionally and internationally.

I look forward to the challenge with your support.

Ralph Heath

President