The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition

Shaping our water future

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition set itself the goal of ‘shaping our water future’ and to play a catalytic role in addressing the challenges and opportunities for a sustainable, equitable and secure water future for all.

September  2018

Tokyo, Japan

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2018 took place in Tokyo and had as key focus the digital economy, megacities, diffusion of innovation, disaster resilience and sustainability. Check the  programme online. Japan has proactively and continually shared the experiences and know-how with other countries. Keeping this tradition the country would like to share water-wise best practices and technologies. Japan’s Quality, Japan’s Experience – Stability & Resilience.

Solving together the problems common to all megacities, Tokyo was the platform upon which the know-how and knowledge of the IWA colleagues was exchanged and deliberated in 2018. As a gateway to Asia and the world, Tokyo also provides attractive business opportunities to all the participants.

Learn what participants shared online with the hashtag #WorldWaterCongress and watch the video coverage of the event, photos and the Japanese report developed by IWA Japan.

October 2016

Brisbane, Australia

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2016 took place in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and covered 5 programme themes: Cities, Utilities and Industries Leading Change; Re-Charting the Course of Water Resources; Enabling Progress with Good Governance, Sustainable Finance and ICT; Water Quality, Safety and Human Health and Water and Wastewater Processes and Treatments. Watch our keynotes that inspired the 5000 participants in the plenary sessions. And read The Brisbane Report that summarises the key takeaways.

This edition saw the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the IWA Governing Assembly, the launch of the IWA Principles for Water-Wise Cities, the water scarcity summit and many other leadership and business forums and sessions. If you like to learn more follow #iwa2016Brisbane and watch the video coverage of the event.

September 2016

Lisbon, Portugal

In late September 2014, global attention focused on two assemblies separated by five time zones across one ocean. New York and Lisbon hosted influential gatherings to advance human progress in the face of escalating competition over finite natural resources, in particular: water.

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Synthesis Report (download), published today, is a groundbreaking report documenting the key discussions and debates that took place in Lisbon between water professionals from within and outside the water sector.

The Congress was successful in pushing the boundaries of what is possible and in showing what can be done. The discussions over the future of water continue, but by participating in the Lisbon Congress water professionals from across the world have brought us closer to finding the solutions to global water challenges. Check the conversation #iwa2014lisbon.

Since 1998

Previous editions

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition first edition was in Paris, followed by Berlin, Melbourne, Marrakesh, Beijing, Vienna, Montreal, Busan, Lisbon and Brisbane. In 2018 Tokyo in Japan is the host of the world leading water professionals, just before the 2020 edition in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Join us in Vienna!