The European Water Association (EWA) inaugurated, during its delegates meeting on May 14th 2015 in Tirana, Károly Kovács as the new President of EWA. He took over the office from Dr. Werner Flögl, and will be the President of the Association from 2015 to 2017.
The key objectives identified by Mr. Kovács for his two year presidency are as follows: to increase the present and future value of the water; to ensure the cost-effectiveness of water services; to strengthen consumer confidence in potable water; to balance the value of water with the price of the services. As part of Mr. Kovács’s EWA presidency, he intends to focus on the cost-effective, sustainable and therefore affordable development of the environmental and water infrastructures. In order to achieve this he aims to strengthen the scientific and policy background behind the decision making processes. Furthermore he intends to develop common professional goals via dialogue and Mr. Kovács, has been a member of EWA since 1998 as the representative of the Hungarian Water and Wastewater Association. He has been a member of the Presidium of EWA since 2011.
For the past two years Mr Kovacs has been the appointed Vice President of the Association and has been taking an active part in the discussions, professional consultations and cooperation of EWA focusing on issues such as sustainable water management, river basin management, and water- and soil conservation. In his work he devotes special attention to develop and strengthen EWA’s role as a civil society providing relevant scientific and policy responses to the environmental, climate, social and economic challenges ahead of the water sector. This Presidency appointment reinforces the recognition of Mr. Kovács’s dedicated professional activities and also enhances the international reputation of the Hungarian water sector. There are several environmental technology developments and patents tied to Mr. Kovács’s name. As a managing director and/or project manager he participated in the design, construction, development, operation, condition assessment, and asset evaluation of several 100 municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment plants, of several thousand kilometres of public sewers, and of various water supply systems design. Furthermore he actively participated in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of various products and technologies responsible for the treatment, drainage and management of water and sewerage. He carried out these activities both on national and international markets alike. Mr. Kovács was a key figure in designing the Specific investment cost calculation guides that now provide the basis for all water utility development planning in Hungary, and in the development of the international Dynamic Cost Comparison Calculation guide for selecting least-cost projects in Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal. He lead the development of the Multiple Aspect Integrated Municipal Property Assessment Database (TIKA) software, as well as the teaching and dissemination of the above mentioned methodologies on national and international levels and forums. The European Water Association (EWA) is an independent non-governmental and non-profit organisation dealing with the management and improvement of the water environment. It is one of the major professional associations in Europe that cover the whole water sector, wastewater as well as drinking water and water related waste. With member associations from nearly all European countries EWA integrates 25 local organizations and reaches over 50 000 professionals. The aim of EWA is to provide a forum for the discussion of key technical and policy issues affecting the growing European region, to bridge the gap between the member organizations and the EU policy makers. Through this exchange of knowledge the objective of EWA is to contribute to sustainable water management, a safe water supply and the protection of the water and soil environment. During the EWA delegate meeting in Tirana, 2015 the representatives reached a decision regarding the 2015 nominee of the Association's most prestigious recognition - the Dunbar-Award. The William Dunbar Medal is awarded in recognition of an outstanding contribution in applied technical development in the field of sewage and waste treatment and disposal. The medal was awarded every three years, now is awarded every two years to an individual of a member country of the EWA and is presented by the President of the EWA. EWA's most prestigious recognition in 2015 is going to be given to Professor Dr. L. Somlyódy, associate professor at the Budapest University of Technology’s Economics of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Department. With the Dunbar Award his work in water quality control, modelling and monitoring, eutrophication analysis, wastewater treatment, flood protection and river basin management, as well as his activities in the environmental and water industry, both on a regional and global level will be recognized.
