480 From Engineering Numbers to People, Power, and Policy with Sherine El‑Wattar
Release Date: 06/13/2026
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483 From Process Engineer to Process Architect: Alicia Butler‑Pierre on Making Work Flow
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480 From Engineering Numbers to People, Power, and Policy with Sherine El‑Wattar
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Industrial water professionals work with chemistry, equipment, permits, and performance targets every day. Yet every gallon also moves through a framework of policy decisions: who can withdraw water, how it may be used, what quality must be returned, and whose needs are considered when systems are designed.
Sherine El-Wattar, a science network officer supporting the IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit, brings an engineering foundation and a human-centered perspective to those questions. Her work focuses on climate impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and risk while helping connect scientific assessments with communities and professional groups beyond the traditional research environment.
Water Systems Are Never Neutral
Pipelines, treatment plants, reuse programs, and flood-control infrastructure solve technical problems. However, Sherine encourages engineers and decision-makers to ask additional questions: Who benefits from the system? Who might be harmed? Whose assumptions are built into the equations? What local realities might the numbers overlook?
Her master’s research illustrates the importance of that lens. Sherine compared remote-sensing indicators of agricultural productivity with the day-to-day practices of farmers near Cairo. A digital map could classify land as productive or unproductive, but the view from the ground revealed practices shaped by long-term care for the soil and water. The lesson is not to dismiss data. It is to understand what the data may not capture.
Water Risk Depends on Context
Water scarcity, flooding, infrastructure resilience, and climate adaptation do not look the same in every region. Culture, institutions, belief systems, and lived experience shape how communities define risk and how they respond to water policy.
Sherine describes climate-related water risk through a straightforward frame: too much water or too little water. The solutions, however, require deeper attention to local conditions. A technically sound recommendation may still fall short if it overlooks the people affected by the decision.
Practical Steps for Water Professionals
For utilities, facilities, and water-sector businesses, Sherine recommends exploring water footprint concepts and water stewardship. She also emphasizes authentic connection: listen before trying to fix a problem, communicate without judgment, and build awareness through relationships.
Industrial water treaters already hold valuable knowledge. Sharing that expertise with operators, communities, policymakers, and professionals from other disciplines can improve the quality of future water decisions.
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
02:10 — Trace explains why water and policy are inseparable, even when daily work appears focused on equipment, chemistry, permits, and profitability.
05:10 — Upcoming industry events highlight opportunities to stay current on utility operations, infrastructure, compliance, data integration, and water-quality challenges.
08:50 — Sherine El-Wattar joins the conversation and clarifies the IPCC acronym before introducing her work in water governance and climate adaptation.
11:30 — Sherine reflects on the value of combining engineering problem-solving with water systems that serve society.
12:00 — Sherine describes her role supporting IPCC Working Group II and the two responsibilities she balances: science and networking.
14:10 — The discussion explores how expert reviewers can contribute perspectives from law, finance, health, youth organizations, Indigenous communities, and other fields.
15:30 — Sherine explains why communication must shift depending on whether the audience includes public communities or government representatives.
17:10 — Water is compared to language: local culture, institutions, and belief systems influence how risk and equity are understood.
19:50 — Sherine unpacks water as a story of people, power, and justice rather than only a network of pipes and treatment systems.
22:00 — A human-centric approach asks who benefits, who may be harmed, whose knowledge informs the system, and what the assumptions may cost.
24:40 — Sherine describes the Netherlands’ Delta Works as an example of infrastructure shaped by risk, institutional capacity, and long-term water management.
27:10 — Sherine shares how her master’s studies shifted her understanding of water from a technical discipline toward the science-policy interface.
29:40 — Her research compares remote-sensing indicators with farmers’ lived practices near Cairo, revealing the limits of relying on aggregated data alone.
33:30 — Trace and Sherine explore how professionals can respect culture and tradition while still supporting education and improvement.
35:50 — Sherine recommends water footprint concepts and water stewardship as practical starting points for organizations planning for climate adaptation.
38:20 — The conversation examines the mismatch between climate risk and the depth of current responses to too much or too little water.
41:50 — Sherine encourages professionals to connect water awareness with personal reflection, professional networks, and conversations that influence behavior
Connect with Sherine El-Wattar
Phone: +31646914589
Email: selwattar@gmail.com
Website: IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ipcc/
LinkedIn: Sherine El-Wattar | LinkedIn
Quotes
“And I really liked how, you know, engineering is all about the numbers, solving problems, and finding a way to create a system that serves society.”
“I have been humbled enough to know you cannot force policymakers to think anything.”
“For us to balance these things, it's about, it starts with understanding.”
“I really hope I would live to see the day where taking care of water or being water conscious is the new trend.”
Guest Resources Mentioned
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Working Group II
IPCC Working Group II: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC: What Is an Expert Reviewer of IPCC Reports?
The Water Footprint Assessment Manual: Setting the Global Standard
Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard
IHE Delft: Governance and Management Profile
The History of the Delta Works
FAO WaPOR: Remote Sensing for Water Productivity
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Author) Paperback
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
What Is Water Footprint Assessment?
UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health: Global Water Bankruptcy
2026 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
