The first virtual conference, AfWA & WASH Media, organised by the African Water Association (AfWA) took place on May 26, 2021 under the theme: " challenges on water quality in Africa: what are AfWA’s contributions for a sustainable monitoring and control of water quality?”

Moderated by Dr. Simeon Kenfack, The  Director of Programmes of AfWA, the conference, whose primary target was media professionals, was attended by about 120 people from 33 countries around the world. The objective was to strengthen the participants' knowledge on the issue of water quality, raise awareness of AfWA and share lessons learnt in the implementation of AfWA's water quality projects.

In developing the theme, Mr. François Van Wyk, Water Quality Expert at Rand Water, South Africa, presented the best practices on water quality monitoring and control from the catchment until the drinking water treatment plant.

Then Ms. Laila Laraki, Head of the Water Quality Monitoring Division at the National office for electricity and drinking water (ONEE) in Morocco, talked about the best practices used in Morocco through ONEE to ensure that drinking water from the treatment plant till the household tap is of safe quality.

To close the presentations, Ms. Aude Tapsoba, Field Application Specialist at Merck, spoke about international standards and norms of water quality control.

Out of the learning session, four panelists made of representative of mentors, mentees of collaborative implementing partners of the AfWA water quality program shared to the public, their experience and lessons learnt from their involvement in the AfWA program. They were Dr. Irene Nabusuga, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Uganda; Mr. YAMEOGO Olivier, Chief of the Department of the central laboratory of water quality at Burkina Faso National office of water and sanitation (ONEA); Mr. Oscar VIVIER, Deputy Director of Water Quality at the Guinea Water Utility (SEG) and Mr. Coulibaly Bakary, Director General of Enval SA; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The conference ended on a note of overall satisfaction from the participants, who said they had learned a lot from the operators' efforts to provide quality water to the population.

The next AfWA webinar will take place on 22 July 2021 and will focus on the African Water Academy.