The process
Building global support for the post-2030 water agenda.
Three phases. Four years. A coordinated effort to build international support for recognising water reuse as a strategic priority in future global water and sustainable development discussions.
Engagement strategy
This roadmap outlines the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative's engagement strategy for advancing water reuse globally. It aligns the Initiative's activities with key international events that provide opportunities for dialogue and engagement. These events are organised independently by the United Nations and other international partners.
The window
Why 2028 is the year that matters most.
The UN sets the world's development agenda in fifteen-year cycles. The Sustainable Development Goals run to 2030. What comes after is being shaped now.
The 2028 UN Water Conference will be the final comprehensive review of the 2018–2028 Water Action Decade — a key moment in the international dialogue that will help shape the post-2030 framework for water. It is a critical opportunity to build support for water as a strategic global priority for the fifteen years that follow.
That is the window in which a global target for water reuse can gain international recognition as a shared ambition — the kind of directional, non-binding goal that, like Net Zero for carbon, can help mobilise capital, regulation, and innovation behind a single number.
Building that support requires a credible policy document, a broad coalition of partners behind it, and sustained engagement across UN processes from now until 2028. The two years between the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi and the 2028 conference are when the case is made.
The roadmap
Three phases, four years.
From the working groups' policy document in 2026, through global coalition-building in 2027, to international engagement between 2028 and 2030.
The conferences shown below are external engagement opportunities for the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative and are organised independently by the United Nations and other international partners.
- Dushanbe Water Conference25–28 May 2026
- HLPF — SDG 6 ReviewJul 2026
- IDRA Congress Policy Launch1–5 Nov 2026
- UN Water Conf. Abu Dhabi2–4 Dec 2026
- DavosJan 2027
- World Water Forum2027
- UN Water Conference2028
- Post-2030 agenda discussions2030
Build the case. Land it in the right rooms.
2026 has three jobs: produce the policy document, seek space for water reuse within the UN preparatory dialogues, and use the December conference in Abu Dhabi to open the conversation with Member States and UN stakeholders.
The policy document.
The five working groups are producing a single policy document setting out the rationale for a global target, its design, and the implementation pathway. It is the substantive product of the Initiative's first year.
Launch is at the IDRA World Congress in Riyadh, 1–5 November 2026. The document then travels with the Initiative to the UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi the following month.
The preparatory pathway.
Three moments in 2026 structure the UN-side engagement. Each is an opportunity to advance discussion on water reuse within the dialogues that will help shape the post-2030 agenda.
- 25–28 MayDushanbe Water ConferenceFourth High-level International Conference on the Water Action Decade. The next major preparatory meeting; shapes the content of the UN Water Conference Interactive Dialogues.
- JulyHLPF — SDG 6 in-depth reviewECOSOC's High-level Political Forum. Progress on SDG 6 reported; third SDG 6 Synthesis Report launched.
- 2–4 DecUN Water Conference, Abu DhabiCo-hosted by Senegal and UAE. Six Interactive Dialogues frame the policy direction for the post-2030 agenda.
The supporting partners.
A coalition of the willing is being built across utilities, industrial water users, regulators, technology providers, financiers, NGOs, and academic researchers — already more than fifty active contributors, across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
The Initiative was co-developed by Global Water Intelligence and the World Bank's 2030 Water Resources Group. It grows out of the work of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, whose CEO Henk Ovink is the ambassador for the Initiative. The two operating partners are Global Water Intelligence and the International Desalination and Reuse Association.
Our 2026 objectives
Two diplomatic prizes between now and the Abu Dhabi conference.
Water reuse named in the Interactive Dialogues.
Specifically IAD2 "Water for Prosperity" — co-chaired by Spain and China with the support of UNDP and UNIDO. That dialogue covers wastewater and water-use efficiency across sectors. Reuse belongs at its heart.
A high-profile side event at the UN Water Conference.
Engaging Member States and UN agencies to share the objectives of the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative and open the policy document for consideration in the run-up to the 2028 conference.
Take the policy document global.
A year of high-level visibility, building international support across the diplomatic, financial, and water-sector forums that will help shape the 2028 dialogue.
World Economic Forum, Davos
Building economic and political backing among heads of state, multilateral institutions, and the global business community. The economics of reuse is a story Davos is well placed to amplify.
World Water Forum
The largest sectoral gathering globally. The venue for technical and sectoral consensus — utilities, ministries, regulators, financiers, and the engineering community in one room.
UNGA preparatory conferences
Engaging with the UN General Assembly preparatory track that feeds into the 2028 conference discussions. Building Member State support is the work of this year.
From ambition to agenda.
The window in which the case for a global water reuse target is presented into the discussions on what follows the SDGs. This is what the previous two years build toward.
UN Water Conference
An important opportunity for the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative to present its recommendations, engage Member States and stakeholders, and encourage international dialogue on water reuse. Any future international commitments would be determined by Member States through established UN processes.
Informing the post-2030 framework
Engaging with UN General Assembly processes between the 2028 conference and the 2030 transition to help inform how a global target for water reuse is considered within the future international framework.
Why a target unlocks the economics.
International recognition of a global target isn't the end goal — it's the lever. A target with broad political support helps mobilise regulation, innovation, and finance in the same way Net Zero did for clean energy. That is how the cost of reuse comes down and the value of reused water goes up. The process and the economics are two sides of the same plan.
The Scaling Water Reuse Initiative is an independent, multi-stakeholder initiative. References to UN processes on this page identify opportunities for engagement and dialogue and should not be interpreted as endorsement by the United Nations, UN-Water, ECOSOC or UN Member States.
Help make reuse the first choice for water.
Add your organisation to the coalition. Join a working group. Help shape the policy document for IDRA Riyadh and beyond.