Theme 1: Water Network

The water industry is undergoing a transformative evolution as utilities embrace innovative approaches to address growing climate, data management, workforce, and customer service challenges. AI-driven solutions can provide predictive insights while workforce development has taken center stage, with continuity planning and new business models fostering innovation and digital transformation. These advancements enable more efficient operations and customer engagement; however, successful implementation requires balancing technological advancement with human-centered approaches that ensure solutions are embraced by both operators and consumers.

This theme explores the latest innovations, best practices, and case studies in creating sustainable water networks that address both technical and social dimensions of modern water management.

Topics:

1.1   Strategic Planning & Climate Resilience

1.2   Data Management and Cybersecurity

1.3   Asset Management & Operational Efficiency

1.4   Workforce Development & Digital Transformation

1.5   Customer Engagement & Conservation

Theme 2: Water Treatment

Cities worldwide face the challenge of limited freshwater supply, prompting them to diversify their water sources to become more resilient. As treatment technologies continue to advance, there is an increasing focus on making the process more sustainable by reducing energy requirements, exploring beneficial reuse of brine, and harvesting energy from waste streams. Additionally, these technologies have to be adaptable to the future impacts of climate change, for instance by designing treatment processes that can cope with changing water quality. While ensuring a sufficient and sustainable water supply is critical, it is equally important to ensure that the water supplied is of the highest possible quality. To this end, water utilities are applying advanced technologies that can effectively treat and remove contaminants of emerging concern and specific groups of contaminants that are resistant to conventional processes. Water utilities are also exploring the use of innovative sensors and digital solutions to support them in plant operations, maintenance, and optimisation.

This theme will highlight breakthrough technologies in water treatment, including the use of smart sensors, digital tools, and advanced analytics to support water utilities in optimising plant operations, improving maintenance efficiency, and enhancing treatment performance.

Topics:

2.1   Water Treatment Technologies and Innovations
Focus: Core technologies for treating water and removing contaminants

2.2   Desalination and Brine Management
Focus: Cutting-edge desalination methods, energy optimization, and brine reuse

2.3   Water Reuse and Resource Recovery
Focus: Potable and non-potable reuse, ecological systems, and sustainability

2.4   Smart and Digital Water Systems
Focus: Digital transformation of water systems using AI, IoT, and XR tech

2.5   Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Decarbonisation
Focus: Climate adaptation, emissions reduction, and future-proofing systems

Theme 3: Used Water Management, Reuse and Industrial Water Solutions

Reflecting SIWW2026’s expanded emphasis on industrial water technologies and applications, Theme 3 will broaden its focus beyond municipal wastewater management to include water reuse, recycling, and industrial water solutions.

A. Treatment
B. Reuse
C. Industrial Applications
In our pursuit of a sustainable future, the perception of wastewater has changed from being something unwanted to a beneficial resource. This shift drives the desire to extract as much water, energy, and valuable materials from wastewater as possible. A growing number of technologies have been developed to enhance energy generation during treatment and reuse of both domestic and industrial wastewater (or alternatively, ‘used water’) streams. Meanwhile, to mitigate climate change, attempts are made to reduce the overall carbon footprint of wastewater management including nitrous oxide and methane emissions. There is an upward trend in recovering and reusing material resources from waste streams, including for industrial and commercial applications. For the remaining wastewater effluent, a high quality is targeted for reuse applications, potentially in part through the use of membrane technologies and processes. Besides looking into new innovations, efforts are also placed in improving the efficiencies of existing processes and explore linkages between domestic and industrial applications to enhance overall system sustainability. This theme welcomes abstracts examining best practices and innovative technologies for sustainable and economically viable centralised or decentralised treatment, reuse and management of domestic and industrial wastewater and the resources embedded therein.

D. Conveyance
Sewers are vital for the sanitary conveyance of wastewater to treatment facilities. To ensure that sewers can carry out their function well, proper operation and maintenance are necessary. Utilities are taking a more proactive approach in these areas with the help of digitalisation and intelligent technologies. In sewer operation, analytics and management tools are employed with real-time sensors and meters for detecting and predicting blockages, inflows, and infiltrations. It is equally important to examine the quality of the wastewater discharged into sewers as it affects downstream treatment processes. In maintenance, advanced inspection equipment is deployed for sewer inspection, cleaning, and rehabilitation. The necessity for cutting-edge technologies becomes more apparent as large sewers are laid more deeply in the increasingly urbanised cities. Such deep tunnel sewage systems require innovative solutions for monitoring the tunnel’s structural integrity and conveyance condition. Abstracts looking into novel technologies, best practices and applied research for wastewater networks in the areas below are welcomed.

Topics:

3A  Treatment
3A.1  Basic and Advanced Wastewater Treatment

3A.2  Process Innovations for Enhanced Wastewater Treatment

3A.3  Towards Net Zero Climate-Sensitive Wastewater Treatment

3A.4  Asset Management and infrastructure resilience

3A.5  Advanced Monitoring and Measurement of Wastewater Contaminants

3A.6  Applications of Advanced Process Modeling, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Process Operations

3A.7  Wastewater Treatment and Management in Developing Regions

3A.8  Decentralised Wastewater Treatment and Water-Efficient Sanitation Systems for Onsite Treatment and Reuse


3B  Reuse
3B.1  Innovation for Efficient Reuse and Recovery


3C  Industrial Applications
3C.1  Innovations in Management, Treatment and Reuse for Industrial Applications


3D  Conveyance
3D.1  Networks

3D.2  Asset Management, Renewal and Rehabilitation

3D.3  Operations

3D.4  Asset Management- Predictability, Performance and Reliability

3D.5  Deep Tunnel Sewerage Systems

Theme 4: Climate Resilient Cities, Flood Management and Coastal Protection

Climate Resilient Cities
Cities comprise interconnected systems - transport, water, planning energy and more. Over time, these systems have developed and significantly altered our natural environment, especially the water cycle. Climate Change is now affecting this already-modified natural system, causing more frequent and extreme impacts through shocks (short-duration) and stresses (longer-term) events. Increasingly, we will need to deal with ‘too much water’ from pluvial (stormwater), fluvial (riverine), tidal/coastal and groundwater flooding in certain seasons. At the same time, we must grapple with ‘too little water’, such as drought and water stress in other seasons. In addition, climate driven impacts such as coastal flooding and saline intrusion are also compromising water quality. Building resilience to these complex water-related impacts therefore, requires a deep understanding of the dependencies and inter-dependencies between these systems. It is therefore extremely important that cities adapt quickly in the face of changing climate and develop strategies that can operate effectively to deal with the deep uncertainties that come along with it.

Flood Management and Coastal Protection
We must adapt to changing boundary conditions such as sea level rise, groundwater fluctuations or changes in river flow as well as changing rainfall intensity. To minimise the damage arising from potential floods, we need to invest in a myriad of measures and infrastructure in response to changing environmental challenges. These efforts can be supported by implementing flood warning systems, evacuation planning, and best practice guidelines, such as relocating high-value or vulnerable assets beyond the impact, enhancing resilience to properties or adopting contingency measures to reduce risk. Upstream storage and soaking up or slowing down overland flow are possible strategies to help attenuate flooding. Similarly, off-line storage, aquifer storage and recovery, water demand reduction, conservation measures and land-use changes can help preserve water resources and improve water security.

The Role of Nature
There is an increasing trend in working closely with natural processes for building resilience against climate change. The growing interest in implementing nature-based or hybrid solutions is a compelling indication that more research and understanding in the role of nature in our adaptation efforts are required. When applied under the right conditions, nature-based solutions such as mangroves would be effective as coastal protection measures. It is becoming increasingly important to recognise and value the environmental and social benefits that nature provides as part of a holistic resilience strategy.

Topics:

4.1  Decision-Making Under Deep Uncertainty

4.2  Practical Experience of City Water Resilience to Shocks (Short Duration Events e.g. Pluvial Flooding) And Stresses
(Incremental Events e.g. Sea Level Rise)

4.3  Flood Forecasting, Smart Monitoring, Early Warning, Flood Preparedness And Real-Time Operational Control

4.4  Role Of Total Value (Social Capital, Natural Capital) In Building City Water Resilience

4.5  Prediction Of Future Climate And Its Influence On Coastal Vulnerability

4.6  Role Of Water Utilities In Building Citywide Resilience

Theme 5: Water Quality and One Health

Water professionals and practitioners continue to face challenges at all levels, from the impact of extreme weather events on infrastructure to a growing imbalance between water scarcity and expanding populations, and threats related to emerging pollutants, spreading anti-microbial resistance and distribution system-associated pathogens such as Legionella. The Report of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (October 2024) places the hydrological cycle at the centre of current thinking about the ways humanity can optimize its management of the planet’s water resources and arrive at innovative solutions that address the impending water crisis. By valuing the hydrological cycle as a global common good, a new framework is created to address climate change, biodiversity loss, water quality and scarcity, and basic human needs in a One Water approach. That framework also acknowledges planetary health, human, animal and environmental health (One Health) and community health as a continuum.

The associated entry points are reflected in the seven broad topic areas that follow, which make up the scope of Theme 5. Assessing and managing water quality in the planning, design and delivery of water and sanitation services and of wastewater management require ever more sophisticated methods of online detection, monitoring and surveillance where research results can be easily transformed into practical and cost-effective applications for evidence strengthening and regulation. Increasingly, they will have to deal with established and emerging chemical pollutants and microbial contaminants using the rapidly evolving AI opportunities.

Topics:

5.1  Public Health, Environmental And Agricultural Perspectives Of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR/ARG) In Drinking Water, Wastewater, Recycled Water – Monitoring, Regulations, Recreational Water Quality, Livestock Management, Mechanisms Of Gene Transfer

5.2  Expect The Unexpected: Managing Emerging Pollutants And Contaminants – Regulations, Challenges Of Emerging Contaminants Due To Climate Change, Capacity, Capability And Jurisdiction Of Utilities To Respond, Water Operator Partnerships

5.3  Impact of climate change and extreme weather conditions on source water quality, including risk assessments and adaptation and resilience measures

5.4  From The Big To The Small Hydrological Cycle - Innovative Technologies And Solutions For Monitoring And Treatment Of Wastewater For Agricultural, Aquacultural And Potable Re-Use, Cost-Effective And Mobile Disinfection Systems

5.5  Drinking Water Supply And Sanitation Services For People On The Move - Provision Of Such Services For Small Migrant Populations Or For Long-Term Refugee Conditions In An Increasingly Unstable World

5.6  Intersectoral Action And Institutional Arrangements To Support The One Water – One Health Integration – Integrated Policy, Strategy, Legal And Regulatory Efforts At Regional, National, Local And Community Levels

5.7  SDGS Post-2030 - Ensuring Safe And Clean Drinking Water And Sanitation Services For Rural And Remote Communities, Including Community Engagement And Participation As Well As Communication Efforts In Monitoring And Management

Theme 6: Nexus & Resource Circularity

Advancing Circular Water Systems – From Innovation to Implementation
The water sector has made significant strides in adopting circular economy principles, moving beyond closing the water loop through advanced treatment to integrating resource recovery, decarbonization, and systemic resilience. Achieving this requires a holistic approach that bridges technology, governance, ecology, and socio-economic enablers.

This theme invites abstracts on sustainable frameworks, strategies, and case studies that address six critical pillars of circular water systems:

1. Governance, Policy, and Stakeholder Collaboration
   ⦁ Policy design, participatory planning, and multi-actor engagement to legitimize, incentivize and scale circular solutions.
   
   
2. Technology, Innovation, and Digitalisation
   ⦁ Cutting-edge treatment, resource recovery, and smart water management to optimize circular loops.
   
   
3. Nature-Based Solutions and Ecological Regeneration
   ⦁ Harnessing ecosystems for water resilience and valuing natural capital in circular designs.
   
   
4. Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency
   ⦁ Integrating low-carbon technologies, carbon capture, and energy-neutrality in circular water systems.
   
   
5. Risk and Regulatory Challenges
   ⦁ Mitigating contaminants, harmonizing regulations and standards, and safeguarding public health in circular transitions.
   
   
6. Enablers: Finance, Education, and Business Models
   ⦁ Innovative financing, workforce development, and scalable business cases for circular water.
   
   

We welcome contributions that adopt systems thinking and cross-sectoral nexus approaches, highlighting synergies between water, energy, and resource sectors. Abstracts may explore technological breakthroughs, policy frameworks, ecological integration, or lessons learned from implementation—all with the shared goal of accelerating the water sector’s transition to a circular economy.

Topics:

6.1  Governance, Policy, and Stakeholder Engagement
These topics focus on the institutional, regulatory, and participatory aspects of circular water systems, emphasizing policy frameworks, multi-actor collaboration, and public involvement to ensure legitimacy and adoption.

6.2  Technology and Innovation for Circular Systems
These topics centre on technological advancements, data-driven management, and infrastructure integration to enable efficient resource recovery, system optimization, and real-time monitoring.

6.3  Nature-Based Solutions and Ecological Resilience
The two sub-topics emphasize ecological approaches to circularity, leveraging natural processes, ecosystem restoration, and accounting for natural capital to enhance sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

6.4  Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency
This group highlights strategies to reduce carbon footprints in water systems, linking resource recovery with energy efficiency and broader decarbonization goals.

6.5  Risk and Regulatory Challenges - Threats to Circularity: Emerging Contaminants and Regulatory Challenges
This stands alone as a critical risk-focused theme, addressing contaminants and regulatory hurdles that could undermine circular water initiatives. The four sub-themes transform a single risk topic into four governance/technical pillars, addressing (1) contaminants (2) policy (3) analysis and (4) societal trust.

6.6  Enabling Frameworks: Finance, Education, and Business Models
These topics cover implementation drivers: economic mechanisms (finance/business models) and human capital (education/workforce development) needed to scale circular systems. The four sub-themes distinguishes economic (1, 2) from human capital (3, 4) enablers, ensuring holistic adoption. The fifth adds case studies and business models.