Australian efforts have been highlighted at the UN’s Global Water Conference. 

Last month the United Nations (UN) hosted the Global Water Conference in New York, the first such event in 46 years which brought together Government delegations, NGOs, development organisations, and industry.  

With support from the Australian Consulate-General, solar-water tech producer SOURCE Global convened a panel of water stakeholders who discussed how innovation can be used to “support culture, development, and adaptation”, with a particular focus on remote indigenous communities that lack traditional drinking water infrastructure. 

The event was hosted by Will Sarni from the Water Foundry and featured SOURCE Founder/CEO Cody Friesen along with Patty Mills, point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, Australian Boomers and Founder of the Team Mills Foundation, and water activist Mina Gulli, CEO of the Thirst Foundation. 

The event also included moving cultural welcomes from community partners Jerry Williams (Navajo Nation) and Cliff Matias (Redhawk Native American Council) who both talked about the connection between water and culture.  

Two members of the Sioux Tribe from South Dakota performed a traditional dance to help demonstrate the importance of working with and maintaining native cultures.

The event welcomed a large group of delegates representing communities from international delegations from the Pacific Islands, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe along with multiple representatives from industry partners, NGOs and communities.

As part of the UN Water Conference Water Action Agenda, SOURCE announced a number of new project commitments including a collaboration with the Kwajalein Atoll Development Authority in the Marshall Islands to bring clean drinking water to 6 remote Pacific islands, a collaboration in Papua New Guinea with Total Waste Management and the Roku Water Committee with support from The Lightsmith Group and the Nordic Development Fund highlighting the importance of clean drinking water in remote, rural, and indigenous communities, and a partnership with the Chan Soon-Shiong Family and the University of Johannesburg in South Africa’s Eastern Cape exploring the impact of clean water access on health, school attendance, and gender-based violence. 

The company also launched new projects in remote Australian Indigenous communities to improve health and cost of living through partnerships with Government Agencies and NGO partners across Queensland and the Northern Territory.