19 October 2016, Brisbane – From 9 – 14 October, more than 4,500 leaders gathered in Brisbane at the World Water Congress and Exhibition to share and discuss global water issues.

“With more than 4,500 water professionals gathered in one place, this was the right time to advocate for policies, launch tools and spread the awareness needed to move towards a water-wise world,” says Ger Bergkamp, Executive Director, the International Water Association. “The 2016 World Water Congress and Exhibition 2016 set into motion distinct call-to-actions that will accelerate progress towards a water-wise world, through collaboration, planning and hard action.”

The top 7 outcomes from the World Water Congress and Exhibition:

1. Launched DroughtAction: The world’s first action-oriented agenda dedicated to building water scarcity and drought involving a broad set of actors from around the world. It will be a catalyst to increase international cooperation and partnerships, new ways to align (new) public policies and business objectives and help create investment opportunities.
2. Launched a manual on how service providers and regulators can realise the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, towards achieving SDG 6: The Manual on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for Practitioners assists providers and regulators in contributing to the progressive realisation of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, at policy and practice levels. It shows how to start meeting the drinking water, sanitation and wastewater management targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Launched New global report that shows huge variations in water use around the world: Household consumption of water around the world varies from 28 to 631 litres per day. This is one of the many findings in the 12th edition of the International Statistics for Water Services 2016. For the first time an interactive statistics portal allows users to graphically compare individual cities’ differences within water abstraction, consumption, tariff structure and regulation of water services.
4. Diane D’Arras took on role as new President of the International Water Association. She will be taking over for Helmut Kroiss.
5. Launched 17 new principles to create water-wise cities: The International Water Association launched the Principles for Water-Wise Cities to help city leaders ensure that everyone in their cities has access to safe water and sanitation, that their cities are resilient to floods, droughts and the challenges of growing water scarcity, and that water is integrated in city planning to provide increased livability, efficiencies, and a sense of place for urban communities. The 17 principles are grouped into four categories: regenerative water servies, water sensitive urban design, basin connected cities and water-wise communities.
6. Specialist group shared global water trends: The International Water Association’s specialist group of experts shared three global water trends: DNA technologies will revolutionize water and wastewater systems, resources must be recovered and transformed into commodities and water needs to be treated as a whole or we will compromise both our drinking water and sanitation.
7. Winners of the International Water Association’s Project Innovation Award were Sydney Water, Zhejiang Kaichuang Environmental Technology Corporation, Mackay Regional Council, and Rand Water for innovating towards a water-wise world.

Watch the videos about the World Water Congress and Exhibition 2016: https://vimeopro.com/iwahq/iwa2016brisbane