Scaling Global Water Reuse Initiative Launched By Founding Partners GWI And IDRA

IDRA joins GWI as a Founding Partner of the Global Scaling Water Reuse Initiative

A Global Coalition to Advance Water Reuse as a Core Strategy for Water Security, Climate Resilience, and Sustainable Growth, aiming to increase global municipal water reuse to 50% by 2045.

Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) are pleased to announce their roles as Founding Partners of the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative (SWRI), a global coalition working to elevate water reuse as a central pillar of the post-2030 global water agenda.

The initiative aims to build international momentum around an ambitious but achievable vision: increasing global municipal water reuse from approximately 11% today to 50% by 2045. While much of the current 11% is directed toward agricultural applications, the future will require a significantly greater share of reused water to support direct potable supply, industrial demand, and urban resilience as freshwater resources become increasingly constrained.

Under the initiative’s guiding ambition — “Recycle 50% of water to enable every drop of water used to generate a new drop” — SWRI seeks to mobilize governments, utilities, industries, development institutions, technology leaders, financiers, and policymakers around scaling reuse solutions worldwide.

As climate change, population growth, industrial expansion, urbanization, and water scarcity place increasing pressure on freshwater resources, water reuse is rapidly emerging as one of the most important tools for strengthening resilience, improving sanitation, supporting economic development, protecting biodiversity, and securing long-term water supplies.

The initiative traces its conceptual origins to discussions within the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, including contributions from Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam during his tenure as Senior Minister and Co-Chair of the Commission, where the question was raised: What could serve as a “Net Zero”-type ambition for water?

While no single metric can capture the full complexity of global water challenges, a global target for reuse offers a measurable and transformative pathway to improve water security and sustainability worldwide.

The initiative focuses not only on scaling reuse volumes, but also on improving the economics and value proposition of reuse systems. SWRI emphasizes that successful reuse deployment depends on balancing:

• the cost of delivering water, including infrastructure extent and treatment complexity;
• with the value created through end use, resource recovery, energy optimization, nutrient capture, and industrial application.

Through collaboration across the public and private sectors, the initiative will support policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, technology deployment, industrial water stewardship, and public engagement strategies needed to accelerate adoption globally.

As Founding Partners, IDRA and GWI will work together to:

• elevate water reuse within global policy and climate discussions;
• integrate reuse leadership into international water events and congresses;
• engage utilities, regulators, industries, and investors;
• support development of policy papers and economic tools;
• and advance practical pathways for scaling reuse infrastructure worldwide.

The initiative will also place strong emphasis on industrial water stewardship, including scaling reuse and desalination solutions for sectors with high water footprints such as manufacturing, energy, mining, semiconductors, food production, and data centers.

Reuse represents one of the clearest opportunities to fundamentally reshape the economics of water security,” said Christopher Gasson, Founder & CEO, GWI. “The next decade provides a critical window to embed ambitious reuse targets into the global framework that succeeds the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“Today, the world reuses only about 11% of municipal water. Moving that number to 50% by 2045 would represent one of the most transformative shifts in the history of global water management,” said Shannon McCarthy, Secretary General of IDRA. “This initiative is about changing both the perception and the economics of reuse to make it a core pillar of global water security, and IDRA is proud to be a co-founder of the initiative.”

The Scaling Water Reuse Initiative will unfold through a multi-phase global engagement process over the next five years, building toward inclusion of water reuse targets and frameworks within future international sustainability and development agendas.

“We need to move from less than 2% direct potable reuse today to more than 20% in urban megacities by 2050 in order to meet growing urban water demand and strengthen long-term water resilience,” stated John Hanula, IDRA Officer, Senior VP Growth & Innovation, Stantec.

“Water reuse is a core part of IDRA’s mission and a growing priority across our global membership. Advancing reuse at scale will require stronger policy frameworks, greater collaboration, and continued investment in innovation to strengthen long-term water security and sustainability worldwide,” said Jon Freedman, President of IDRA, and Global Head of Policy & Stakeholders for Veralto Water.

“Industrial water demand is rising precisely as freshwater availability falls. The opportunity, and the imperative, is to close water loops within plants and draw from municipal reuse streams at scale. Getting industry to make that shift is what moves the needle from 11% to 50%,” said Devesh Sharma, CEO of Aquatech International and IDRA Board Director.

“SWRI is designed to bring together governments, utilities, industry, finance institutions, and technical experts around a shared global ambition to accelerate practical, investable, and scalable reuse solutions worldwide,” said Marta Ceadel, Scaling Water Reuse Initiative Coordinator. “This collaborative process will help shape a global policy paper on scaling water reuse, with the intention of presenting its recommendations within the framework of the 2026 UN Water Conference.”

For more information on the Scaling Water Reuse Initiative, upcoming events, and partnership opportunities, additional announcements will be released in the coming months.

SWRI - Why now?
We don't have to fight over water.
Cities are running short. Industries face existential supply risk. Water is becoming the next driver of geopolitical conflict. But unlike fossil fuels, water is infinitely renewable — every drop we use can be used again. Reuse is what turns a contested resource into an abundant one.

Water security is now everyone's problem.
The intensity of droughts and floods has doubled in twenty years. Regions that never thought about water security — northern Europe, the American Midwest, parts of East Asia — now face sudden, severe shortages. Rising global temperatures don't just make dry places drier; they make every place vulnerable.

Less taken, less polluted, more for nature.
Every drop reused is a drop not abstracted from a river, lake, or aquifer — and a drop not discharged as pollution. Reuse simultaneously reduces freshwater withdrawal and raises the quality of what returns to the environment. Ecosystems gain on both ends.

Better sanitation for all.
Wastewater management is a cost centre. Cities and countries spend on collection and treatment but rarely recover the investment, which is why so much of the world still discharges sewage untreated. Reuse changes the equation: once treated wastewater is a valuable resource, the case for investing in sanitation finally closes, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries where the gap is largest.

Join the coalition of the willing. Contribute to one of the xx working groups and help shape the policy document for IDRA Riyadh and the post-2030 UN agenda.

About The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA)
The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) is the global voice of the desalination and water reuse industry, connecting governments, utilities, researchers, technology leaders, and industry stakeholders to advance sustainable water solutions worldwide. IDRA holds UN ECOSOC and UNFCCC status and is a member of the UN Water Family and UN FAO WASAG partner.

About Global Water Intelligence (GWI)
Global Water Intelligence (GWI) has been the leading provider of market intelligence, analysis, and strategic insight for the international water sector for more than 25 years, supporting decision-makers across utilities, industry, finance, and infrastructure development.