IDRA World Congress 2026

The IDRA World Congress is the flagship gathering of the International Desalination and Reuse Association. Its 2026 edition, now scheduled for 24 to 28 January 2027, comes to Saudi Arabia for the first time under the patronage of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and hosted by the Saudi Water Authority. The theme is Driving Global Water Sustainability Through Innovation, with a focus on the systems, regulation, technology and finance needed for reliable, low-carbon water supply.

Programme

A pre-congress day on 24 January is followed by four congress days of plenary, technical and thematic sessions, a leaders summit, plant tours, the IDRA awards and a gala dinner. Pre-congress highlights include:

• Water Regulation Exchange: six sessions on regulation from the Americas, Europe, the Pacific and the GCC, ending with the launch of the Exchange
• Workshop: Advances in Brine Valorization
• Workshop: Emerging Contaminants in Water and the Environment
• Acwa and IDRA 2nd Global Desalination Hackathon for Sustainable Water Solutions
• Saudi Business Forum

Speakers

Announced speakers include Saudi Water Authority President Eng. Abdullah Al-Abdulkareem, MEWA Deputy Minister Dr. Abdulaziz Alshaibani, the GCC's Assistant Secretary General, Andalusia's water minister and the U.S. EPA, alongside chief executives from Acwa, National Water Company, Veolia, SUEZ, ACCIONA, Almar Water Solutions, Metito and ENGIE, and leaders from the World Bank, UNICEF, UN-Water and the UN Global Compact.

Exhibition

An exhibition in the King Faisal Conference Center runs alongside the sessions, with shell scheme booths of 9 and 18 sqm and space-only plots. It targets developers, public and private utilities, EPC contractors, financiers, government agencies, manufacturers, researchers and academia.