Welcome Message

Welcome message from Water New Zealand Chief Executive Gillian Blythe – COVID-19 RESPONSE

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 delta outbreak we have further postponed our conference until Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 February with the Taumata Arowai and Department of Internal Affairs pre-conference workshop on Tuesday 22 February.

Since my last Water New Zealand Conference and Expo announcement, Auckland has moved from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 3, with parts of Waikato at that level also. On Friday the Government announced a new COVID-19 framework and a 90% vaccination target. For the Water New Zealand Conference and Expo to go ahead in December, New Zealand would have to transition to the new framework and be at least at “orange” (or be at what would have been Alert Level 1 under the current system).

Given the year we have had and the uncertainty about achieving the necessary target, we have decided to use our back-up dates of 23 to 25 February 2022. The pre-conference workshop will be on Tuesday, 22 February 2022.

Although there was a chance that we may have been able to hold the Conference in December as planned, we have opted to make an early decision to give clarity to our sponsors, exhibitors and delegates.

Looking ahead, it is anticipated that proof of double vaccination will be a requirement for attendance. We will update you as soon as we can with regards to this.

Once again, our events team has been working hard behind the scenes to ensure exhibitors and sponsors have all been notified. If you are registered to attend this conference, your registration automatically moves to the new dates. Please get in touch directly with your accommodation and travel providers about rescheduling your travel dates.

If you are one of our programme speakers, your presentation time will remain the same but a day later. In other words, the original Tuesday presentations will now take place on Wednesday 23rd, the original Wednesday presentations will be on Thursday 24th, and the original Thursday content on Friday, 25th February.

We are optimistic that the February dates will finally work and we appreciate your patience over this extremely trying time.
We wish everyone a peaceful, active summer and we will touch base again with you all in the new year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with our helpful events team at waternz@avenues.co.nz.

Ngā Mihi Nui
Gillian Blythe
Water New Zealand CEO

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