About us
We are a water sector professional body seeking to better equip our members to do their day jobs, advocate for the sector and improve the environment and lives of their communities.
Our members
Our members come from across the UK water sector with diverse and wide-ranging skills and disciplinary backgrounds; technicians, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, people and culture specialists, researchers and academics, contractors, manufacturers, asset managers, catchment managers, field operatives, senior leaders, regulators and policymakers and more.
Our mission and values
Water is the stuff of life. The lives of everyone, everywhere, are touched by water. As the only professional body focusing entirely on the UK water sector, we create a family to which anyone working or studying or training to work in the UK water sector can belong.
Our members are water professionals who know that they deliver better outcomes for customers, stakeholders and the environment when they come together to share knowledge, create solutions and inspire positive change. The Institute of Water provides the knowledge, skills and networks our members need to deliver those outcomes.
Our values ensure that ‘how’ we work is as important as ‘what’ we do.
How we are run
Our Board is ultimately responsible for the running of IWater and currently comprises our Chief Executive and 11 Non-Executive Directors, all of whom are volunteers and members of IWater. The Board gives support and guidance to our Chief Executive and her small, dedicated team of 7 staff based in our Gateshead office.
Our work is underpinned by our 200+ dedicated volunteers who bring their day-to-day experience in the sector to run and provide our core offerings to members.
Our services
We offer a wide range of services to support our members throughout their careers. These include events and networking opportunities, mentoring, professional registration, continuing professional development (CPD), awards and access to our magazine.
Our commitment to EDI
We are committed to a policy of inclusion and equality for all staff, members and stakeholders. We recognise the value that a diverse water sector brings to society, and we are committed to promoting these benefits.
We aim to be representative of the industry we serve and to ensure that there are no barriers to membership.
Environmental sustainability
We know that water is precious and much of what we do at IWater is about reinforcing how we can reduce harmful human impacts on the water environment. But we also need to be aware of our own environmental impact as an organisation, so we have developed an Environmental Sustainability Policy which identifies our significant environmental impacts, such as energy and water use, travel and production of waste, and helps us to monitor, control and reduce them.
Our history
Allen Bolton founded IWater 81 years ago in 1945, when no other organisation existed to meet his needs. Since then, we have continuously evolved to reflect the diversity of our members and our status as a professional body.
