Summary of World Water Week: Events, Ideas and Stories

World Water Week was celebrated from August 23 to 28 in Stockholm Sweden.The theme for the 25th anniversary of the event was "Water for Development." More than 3,300 delegates assembled from 130 countries to explore solutions to some of the most urgent water and development challenges.

The problems associated with water are both pressing and ubiquitous with almost 2 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion people who lack access to a proper toilet. Contaminated water kills roughly two million people around the world every year. By 2030, the global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion and the human race could face a 40 percent water shortfall.

The Water Crisis and Development: World Water Week 2015 (Video)

The scarcity of clean water in certain places around the world is one of the most daunting challenges in the world today. Each day almost 1000 children under 5 die from diarrhoea caused by contaminated water. More than 2.4 billion people – a third of all humanity – have no access to sanitation. And as populations grow, water is set to become a new source of danger, of conflict, given the rapid urban expansion of Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, as climate change accelerates, we are likely to see more extreme and frequent droughts, floods and typhoons. Again, people in emerging economies are likely to be the hardest hit by water-borne disasters.

Event - International Water Summit (IWS)

The IWS event will be held from January 19 to 22, 2015 in Abu Dhabi at the National Exhibition Centre. This is a premier global forum to drive actionable water security solutions. IWS is a global platform for promoting water sustainability and addressing the water-energy nexus in arid regions. As a natural extension of the UAE’s commitment to sustainability, IWS brings together policy makers, NGOs, scientists, business leaders and innovators to share the latest technologies and proposals for action that tackle the urgent challenges of wastewater and water access and security. Participants will also learn about the growing commercial opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).