RésEAU Updates April 2026

News to read

• On World Water Day 2026, the United Nations World Water Development Report 2026, “Water for all people: equal rights and opportunities" has been released.
• On the same topic, explore SDC’s key documents on gender and water.
• The WHO Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Waste Strategy 2026–2035 was formally released by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a new institutional strategy guiding WHO’s work on WASH and health over the next decade.
• To help bridge the data gap in gender-related water issues, UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) has developed tools and training material to collect and analyse sex-disaggregated water data.
• On 21 March 2026, UNESCO hosted the celebrations of the 2^nd World Day of Glaciers. In this context, the Adaptation at Altitude Programme presented its Solutions Portal where best practices in glacier preservation and glacier-melt adaptation can be found.
• This Sandec Research Brief March 2026 on ‘Assessing climate resilience of water, sanitation and solid waste services in Ugandan small towns’ provides reflections on interlinkages across services.
• The article ”Global cases of groundwater recovery after interventions" recently published in Science, illustrates how well-designed combinations of technologies and policies can slow, stop, or even reverse trends of groundwater depletion.
• The Blue Peace Middle East’s cooperation profile reflects the progress achieved in strengthening transboundary water dialogue, institutional coordination, and technical cooperation across the region.
• Through its contribution to the Municipal Environmental Governance (MEG), Switzerland strengthens municipalities in Bosnia by supporting water supply systems and investing into capacity building for youth.

E-workshops and webinars recently held / to attend

• 15 April 2026 – 14:00 CEST: “Water Cooperation (2/4): Prevent and reconcile conflicts between competing water demands”, hosted by International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
• 16 April 2026 – 14:00 CEST: “The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in water and wastewater treatment”, hosted by the International Water Association (IWA)
• May-July 2026: Webinar series “Groundwater matters” organised by the International Association of Hydrogeologists – detailed dates to be announced soon
• Self-paced: “Introduction to household water treatment and safe storage”, provided by Eawag and EPFL on Coursera

Conferences and events recently held / to attend

• 17 – 18 April 2026 – WASH Economics Conference 2026, hosted by Center for Water and Sanitation (CWAS) to be held in Ahmedabad, India
• 28 – 29 April 2026 – Expert Group on Equitable Access to Water and Sanitation, hosted by UNECE, to be held online
• 04 May 2026 – 5th meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Sustainable Financing under the Water Convention, hosted by UNECE, to be held in Geneva and online
• 05 – 06 May 2026 – Global workshop on the use of new technologies and innovations for monitoring, assessment and data-sharing in transboundary basins, hosted by UNECE, to be held in Geneva and online
• 15 – 18 June 2026 – Singapore International Water Week, to be held in Singapore
• 23 – 24 June 2026 – 10th Global Water Stewardship Forum, hosted by the Alliance for Water Stewardship to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland / UK
• 28 – 29 June 2026 – 2nd stakeholder consultation meeting of the 11th World Water Forum to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Opportunities to apply for

• The call for submissions for the Africa Water and Sanitation Systems Leadership Symposium is now open. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026
• The call for proposals for the 2nd IWRA Islands Water Congress – “Connecting Islands for Global Water Solutions” is now open. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026
• The abstract portal for the 2026 UNC Water and Health Conference hosted by the North Carolina University Water Institute is now open. Submission deadline: 15 May 2026

Please consider sharing your news with all other RésEAU members by sending an email to ResEAU@dgroups.org.

Best regards,

Dr. Daniel Maselli, RésEAU Focal Point, SDC

Delphine Magara, RésEAU Backstopper, Skat Consulting Ltd.