About the conference:

Solving the interlinked challenges of urban water, energy and climate is critical for cities of the future to prosper. The IWA Water, Energy and Climate Conference 2014: Solutions for Future Water Security (IWA WEC) is an opportunity to bring together knowledge from across the globe to share experiences and information, enable collaboration and build new partnerships, discussion of cutting edge solutions to the world’s water and energy issues, while also addressing approaches to sustainable and effective adaptation throughout the water sector.

Considering the current situation of Latin America in the urban water, energy and climate aspects, the IWA WEC Conference will be organized in Mexico City, with the local support of ANEAS (Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Agua y Saneamiento de Mexico – National Association of Water and Sanitation Utilities in Mexico) and CONAGUA (Comisión Nacional del Agua – National Water Commission) as national partners. This will provide a unique opportunity to learn from exciting regional innovations to face the coming challenges.

Conference themes:

Given the conference scope, submissions on any of the following four themes and sub-themes are being considered for participation:

Urban water – energy neutrality through efficient utilities, industries and cities

• Sustainable technologies and processes for urban and industrial water – energy conservation and alternative energy production
• Information and communication technology to optimize energy and carbon efficiency and energy production in industry and cities
• Water, energy and raw materials recovery from urban and industrial waste water  – challenges and opportunities
• Energy demands for water” and “water demands for energy”
• Benchmarking, monitoring and measuring water – energy interactions in cities and industries

Policy and finance for energy and carbon neutrality

• Optimizing urban water and energy – cooperation between water and energy utilities and between urban water/energy and industrial water-energy
• Business opportunities in improving water efficiency and water-energy efficiency in industries and cities
• Policy and regulation which supports innovation for energy and carbon neutrality in utilities and industries
• Institutional change/structures needed to support the transition to cutting edge water/energy solutions
• Financing mechanisms for the urban and industrial water-energy nexus

Planning and infrastructure for a resilient water sector

• Asset management to secure resilient and efficient urban water systems
• Improving performance of urban water infrastructure to changes in the hydrologic cycle
• Investing in natural and engineered  infrastructure to optimize the water, energy and food nexus
• Strategies for creating a new adaptation landscape across cities, industries and farmers
• Governance and institutional arrangements for urban and watershed drainage
• Planning and decision support systems to improve responses to climate impact including floods and droughts
• Exploring trends in hydro-climatic variables and responses to extreme climatic events

Optimising water cycle management for securing urban and industrial water supplies

• Securing alternative water sources, including rainwater, reclaimed and treated water through urban and basin management
• Optimizing stormwater opportunities usage for urban development
• Urban and industrial water demand modelling
• Information and communication technology to optimize urban and industrial water management
• Economic approaches to optimizing collection, storage, treatment and distribution of various water sources.