IDRA Joins The Water-AI Nexus Center Of Excellence Advisory Council With The Water Environment Federation

Partnership brings the global desalination and reuse community into one of the water sector’s most ambitious cross-sector initiatives on artificial intelligence, sustainability, and water resilience.

The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) joins the Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence, under which IDRA will serve as a supporting organization and join the Center’s Advisory Council.

The partnership connects IDRA’s global desalination and reuse network with one of the most ambitious cross-sector initiatives in the water sector today, a first-of-its-kind global collaboration convening leaders in artificial intelligence and sustainable water management to tackle two of the defining challenges of the coming decade: how AI infrastructure impacts water, and how AI can be harnessed to solve pressing water scarcity and management challenges.

Launched in September 2025, the Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence is anchored by a group of founding leaders including the Water Environment Federation, Amazon, The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and Leading Utilities of the World. WEF serves as the Center’s secretariat and convenes its Advisory Council. IDRA joins the Council as a formal supporting organization representing the global desalination and water reuse community.

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping how water is managed, financed, and delivered, and the water sector cannot afford to sit on the sidelines of that conversation,” said Shannon McCarthy, Secretary General of IDRA. “The Water-AI Nexus brings together the organizations that can move this agenda forward at scale. For IDRA’s members, this is a direct line into one of the most important cross-sector conversations happening in our industry today—and a chance to ensure that desalination and reuse are not only part of how AI shapes the future of water, but also essential to meeting AI’s own growing water demands. As data centers and AI systems expand, the linkage between AI-driven water management and the scaling of resilient supply solutions like reuse and desalination becomes increasingly critical.”

“As AI becomes a defining infrastructure of the 21st century, water must be embedded in how it is designed, scaled, and governed. By bringing IDRA into this collaboration, we expand what’s possible, advancing Water for AI by setting a higher bar for stewardship and efficiency, and accelerating AI for Water so that smarter systems, better treatment, and more resilient supplies reach communities everywhere.” Ralph Exton, executive director, Water Environment Federation.

A dual mission: Water for AI and AI for Water
The Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence operates under a dual mission that captures the two-way relationship between water and artificial intelligence.

Water for AI. Ensuring AI infrastructure, including the data centers that underpin the global AI economy, uses water as efficiently as possible. The rapid scale-up of AI compute has focused attention on the water intensity of digital infrastructure and the need for new standards, technologies, and operational practices to reduce that footprint.

AI for Water. Harnessing AI capabilities to solve the water sector’s most pressing challenges, from leak detection and demand forecasting to treatment optimization, asset management, and the integration of non-conventional water resources into utility operations.

The Center’s mission also extends to mentoring students, early-career professionals, and community members in AI-enabled water science and decision-making, building the next generation of water leaders for the AI era.

What the partnership will deliver
The involvement in this important initiative gives IDRA’s members, who include utilities, technology providers, researchers, financial institutions, and governments in more than 60 countries, access to one of the most important cross-sector conversations in the water industry, alongside WEF’s global network of 30,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations, as well as Amazon, Leading Utilities of the World, The Water Center at Penn, and the growing community of organizations joining the Center’s work.

Positioning desalination and reuse in the AI era
For IDRA, the partnership is a strategic marker. Desalination and water reuse are increasingly central to global water security, with installed desalination capacity having grown significantly since 2020 and water reuse capacity continuing to scale rapidly as regulators in the US, EU, Middle East, Asia, and beyond move to formalize potable and non-potable reuse frameworks.

As the sector enters its fastest growth phase on record, artificial intelligence is emerging as a defining force in how that growth is designed, financed, and operated. By joining the Water-AI Nexus Advisory Council, IDRA ensures that desalination and reuse are represented in that conversation, and that its members have a direct stake in how AI is applied to water infrastructure worldwide.

About The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA)
The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) is the leading global non-profit association dedicated to advancing the science, technology, and application of desalination and water reuse. With members across more than 60 countries, IDRA connects utilities, technology providers, researchers, financial institutions, and governments through its World Congress, publications, Academy, and advocacy programs. The 2026 IDRA World Congress, Driving Water Sustainability Through Innovation, will be held 1-5 November 2026 in Riyadh, under the patronage of the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and hosted by the Saudi Water Authority. For more information, visit idrawater.org

About The Water Environment Federation (WEF)
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with more than 30,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. Since 1928, WEF and its members have protected public health and the environment. WEF and its global network of members and Member Associations provide water quality professionals worldwide with the latest in water quality education, training, and business opportunities. For more information, visit wef.org.

About Water-AI Nexus
The Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence is a first-of-its-kind global collaboration convening leaders in AI development and sustainable water management to solve pressing water scarcity and management challenges, leveraging academic, community, and industry support. Its founding leaders, the Water Environment Federation, Amazon, Leading Utilities of the World, and The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, have made a multi-year commitment to lead research, advance community-focused solutions, and empower the next generation of diverse water leaders in the AI era.