The Global Water Summit: Where Water Meets Money

The Global Water Summit brings together 1,200 senior executives from across the international water sector – utility CEOs, infrastructure investors, technology providers, project developers, and industrial water users – to address the most pressing challenge of our time: delivering the water transition.

Taking place in Madrid, 18-20 May 2026, GWS is the flagship business event for the water sector. Unlike technology trade shows or policy conferences, it’s designed specifically for deal-making and strategic collaboration.

This year’s agenda tackles the urgent question: we failed the energy transition – how do we succeed with water?

What’s new for 2026:

• A global target for water reuse – shaping future technology, regulation and finance
• The first high-level municipal-industrial collaboration session
• The Mission for Water: coordinating finance across the sector with the World Bank
• $200 billion of project opportunities, including Central Asia’s emerging markets
• Market Accelerator workshop for businesses entering new markets