She attended the IWA-Aspire & Water New Zealand Conferences, and participated in a panel discussion about resilient drinking water and sanitation services, and resilience planning for natural disasters. At the conference, the Water Envoy had several bilateral meetings with regional counterparts from the Pacific, such as the Pacific Water & Wastewater Association (PWWA), the Australian Water Association and WaterNZ. She also spoke with Taumata Arowai (the NZ Water Services Authority) and the NZ Infrastructure Commission, about challenges and solutions in water services – from drinking water quality to wastewater treatment and water infrastructure challenges.

On Friday, the Water Envoy had a day in Christchurch to meet local counterparts and stakeholders. She visited Christchurch City Council to discuss matters around urban water management, adaptation strategies and Blue-Green infrastructure. She also visited the Canterbury Emergency Management Centre, where she met with Civil Defense and Environment Canterbury about disaster preparedness and response. Being a country with all sorts of natural hazards (from earthquakes to cylcones), New Zealand can share many lessons with the Netherlands about natural disasters such as floods.

The Water Envoy also met with Te Kura Taka Pini, the Freshwater Management agency of Ngāi Tahu, to talk about the challenges of freshwater management on the South Island. And with a group of scholars from Canterbury University, about the research they do and opportunities for collaboration with Dutch universities and research institutes. We ended the visit with a rainy but engaging field trip to Te Kuru, a large stormwater facility and wetlands outside of Christchurch, with the expert team of Storm Environmental.

The visit brought many interesting insights - from technical discussions about water services, to sharing Dutch expertise on adaptation, water management and engineering solutions.