As engineer by profession, he works for City of Vienna – Vienna water as a utility manager for his entire professional career. Working on different projects and tasks within Vienna Waterworks he had to pass through various departments within the organization. In 2001 he was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of Vienna Water.
Following his interest in the international context of water-management, Walter Kling joined the work of the Austrian Waterworks Association and in 1993 he was
delegated to represent Vienna Water within IWSA. He was an active member in IWSA with a special focus on the Standing Committee on Public Relations, promoting
and conducting the PR-award scheme. Since the launch of IWA in 2000, Walter Kling supported the development of the new association the region of Central East Europe by organizing a number of events and initiating IWA conferences in this region. Maintaining an excellent network of contacts, he applied with IAWD to organize the IWA-World Water Congress 2008 in Vienna. Starting from 2003, the IWA-Congress President Walter Kling served with great commitment to secure best circumstances for IWA, IAWD and the City of Vienna to run a successful conference. In 2010 Walter Kling was elected as IWA Vice President and served after re-election in 2012 till the World Water Congress 2014 in Lisbon. Over the last six years he served on the IWA Strategic Council as an elected utility representative.
Important background for his work was the role as the General Secretary of IAWD (International Association of Waterworks in the Danube Catchment Area) which he
started in 1993. Founded by an initiative of the Mayor of Vienna, IAWD is a long-term partner of IWA in various activities. As a utility representative, he initiated a number of conferences organized in Vienna or the CEE-region helping the water sector in this part of Europe to be linked to international institutions. Following the interest of Vienna to play an active role in the international water business, Walter Kling took the duty to represent water issues also within other institutions (e.g. CEMR, Eurocities, ISO). He initiated that IAWD launched 2012 jointly with the World Bank the Danube Water Program for Capacity building in the Danube and Balkan Region. This program significantly supports the development of cooperation in the water sector over the time of three phases till 2021.
