The Government of Israel and the OECD co-organised an international conference on "Joining Forces to Develop Smart, Cost-Effective Urban Water Utilities: Policy, Economics, Environment, Regulation and Technologies" on 23 October 2013, in Tel Aviv. An optional tour was organised on 24 October to visit water sites, including plants of Mekorot - The National Water Company.

Anthony Cox, OECD Environment Directorate, made a keynote presentation on the Urban Water Challenges: Present and Future – The role of government in the development of smart and successful urban water solutions and participated in a panel on the Future of Urban Water Facilities – the link between technology and policy.

The conference took place in the context of Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition & Conference (WATEC Israel 2013), which began on 22 October. The previous WATEC Exhibition attracted 27,000 visitors from 104 countries, including 40 ministers of water and 150 official delegations. 1,300 delegates participated in the Conference.

The conference was a unique opportunity to understand the policies that have supported the development of a dynamic water industry in Israel, hear about the lessons for water policies in other countries, and to get exposed to state of the art in water-related technologies. Amongst other things, the discussions will feed into the OECD project on “Water policies for future cities”.

Meeting document

• Agenda for the conference
  
  

Related link

• Biodiversity, water and natural resource management