IWA Global Sanitation Summit 2027

The Future of Sanitation: Decentralised, Water-Efficient, Scalable

Across the world, billions of people still lack access to safe, reliable sanitation — with the greatest needs concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. Improving access remains one of the most urgent public health and development challenges of our time.

At the same time, the sector is undergoing rapid change. New approaches — including decentralised, water-efficient and resource-smart solutions — are demonstrating that safe sanitation can be delivered differently, and at scale.

The IWA Global Sanitation Summit has been created to bring these two realities together: the urgent need to expand access, and the opportunity to deploy proven solutions more effectively.

A Summit focused on implementation and impact

Built around the theme ‘The Future of Sanitation: Decentralised, Water-Efficient, Scalable’, the IWA Global Sanitation Summit is a dedicated, implementation-focused platform designed to accelerate progress — particularly where improved access and service delivery are most needed.

The Summit will bring together:

• governments and regulators

• utilities and municipal operators

• development practitioners

• financiers and development banks

• industry and solution providers

This is all with a shared objective: to move from pilot projects to large-scale deployment, and from discussion to action.

Supporting the global sanitation community

The Summit is designed as a welcoming forum for the global sanitation community — those working to improve access, strengthen services, and deliver solutions on the ground.

At the same time, it will provide space to engage with emerging approaches, technologies and delivery models from different regions and contexts, where these can support progress in addressing real-world sanitation challenges.

What the Summit will deliver

Through a structured and curated programme, the Summit will:

• showcase proven, scalable solutions already being implemented

• align policy, regulation, finance and delivery models to enable scale

• create practical pathways for implementation through structured dialogue

• generate credible commitments and market signals to accelerate progress

The programme follows a clear arc: from what works → to what needs to change → to what will be done next

Join a platform for real progress

The IWA Global Sanitation Summit is designed to strengthen collaboration, mobilise action, and support meaningful progress in sanitation.

If you are working to improve sanitation access, strengthen systems, or enable solutions at scale — this Summit is designed for you.

Save the date and stay tuned for updates.