Meet the Honorary Fellow: Jim Graham

Jim Graham (HonFCIWEM) is one of four new CIWEM Honorary Fellows. Below we learn more about Jim and find out his answer to the question: how do you feel about becoming an Honorary Fellow and how will this shape your work going forward?

Jim Graham is the principal advisor, drinking water with Taumata Arowai, the new national drinking water regulator that has recently been created as a Crown Entity in New Zealand. Jim has been working in the water industry in New Zealand for thirty years, beginning in the Public Health Service as a health protection officer after completing a diploma in environmental health science.

The water sector and health

While in this position Jim studied part time at Auckland University to achieve a bachelor of environmental science and then followed this up with the national diploma in drinking water (assessment) from Otago Polytechnic. Jim then joined the New Zealand Ministry of Health and was involved with the preparation of the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand in 2005 and 2008. He was also part of the team that prepared New Zealand’s first drinking water legislation, an amendment to the Health Act (Drinking Water Amendment Act 2007).

At this time however Jim’s main role with the Ministry was to set up and lead a NZ $150M fund which provided capital and technical assistance to small drinking water supplies. Jim managed the fund for three years and allocated more than NZ $40M before joining Opus International Consultants as a principal environmental scientist. In this role he worked with municipal water suppliers, assisting them with understanding and complying with the drinking water standards, identifying and managing risk and upgrading a wide range of supplies.

Supporting sector reform

During this period Jim studied part time to achieve a masters of environmental studies at Victoria University of Wellington. In 2016 when the Havelock North drinking water supply was contaminated with sheep faeces, resulting in more than 7000 cases of Campylobacter and four deaths, Jim was appointed as an expert advisor to the subsequent inquiry which sought to identify why the event had occurred and whether there were systemic issues in the New Zealand drinking water system. This led to considerable reform of the sector.

In 2017 Jim joined Water New Zealand, the largest water industry membership organisation in New Zealand as the principal advisor water auality and provided a wide range of advice and assistance to the sector. Additionally he advocated strongly for necessary changes to the sector, particularly the setting up of a new national drinking water regulator.

In early 2020 Jim was appointed as principal technical advisor to the Establishment Unit for the new regulator and remained with them until Taumata Arowai was set up and he was appointed as principal advisor, drinking water. Over many years, Jim has provided education and training to the drinking water sector through workshops, conference presentations and webinars. He has a special ability to make complex scientific information easy to understand and presents in an interesting and captivating manner.

Jim has also worked for the World Health Organisation in the Pacific and Asia, particularly in the area of managing risk in drinking water supplies.

Becoming an Honorary Fellow

“It is an honour and priviledge to accept an Honorary Fellowship from CIWEM. Safe drinking water is a human right and critical to protecting health and building a flourishing economy. We have forgotten the reality of the chlorea and typhoid outbreaks of the 1800s but every now and again people in affluent countries die unnecessarily due to the provision of unsafe water.

"Critical to changing our behaviour with regard to water is the need to see ourselves as an integral part of the environment and understand the idea of te mana o te wai a universal concept that gives rights directly to water itself. If you see water as having a mauri, sprirt or life force, it becomes difficult to treat it as a resource alone.

“It is with this understanding that I join CIWEM’s community and will take advantage of the connections that provides to assist people to have safe drinking water supplies, but also to make the case for a changing view of water, one that recognises it as having rights of its own”.

Read more:

Meet the Honorary Fellow: Craig Bennett

Meet the Honorary Fellow: Sarah Ward

Meet the Honorary Fellow: Natalie Fee

Our Honorary Fellow programme recognises people who are not normally members of CIWEM, or necessarily working directly in the water and environmental management field, that have made an incredible contribution to shape the future of the water and environment profession as well as that of CIWEM itself.