Saudi Arabia Establishes Global Platform in Riyadh to Strengthen Cooperation Among Water Regulators Worldwide

Saudi Arabia is leading a new international effort to strengthen cooperation among water-sector regulatory authorities through the Water Regulation Forum, launched by the Saudi Water Authority (SWA) in Riyadh. The forum will bring together regulators, policymakers, international and financial institutions, and water-sector leaders to advance more adaptive, efficient, and sustainable regulatory frameworks.
 The forum comes as rapid global shifts continue to reshape the role of water regulators. Regulatory responsibilities now extend beyond licensing, compliance, and utility performance oversight to include enabling investment and innovation, strengthening supply reliability, regulating the expansion of desalination and water reuse, and responding to increasing water scarcity, climate change, and rising demand.
 The forum represents a Saudi initiative to establish a specialized international platform that connects diverse regulatory experiences. It will enable regulators to examine shared challenges and develop policies and regulatory tools that balance resource sustainability, service quality, cost efficiency, consumer protection, and the sector’s ability to attract long-term investment.
 The initiative draws on Saudi Arabia’s experience in managing one of the world’s largest integrated water systems. The Kingdom’s desalinated water production capacity exceeds 16.4 million cubic meters per day, representing more than 22% of global production capacity, supported by an extensive system spanning water production, transmission, storage, distribution, treatment, and reuse.
 Through the forum, SWA aims to use this experience to support an international dialogue that compares regulatory approaches, facilitates knowledge exchange among countries, and identifies practices that can be adapted to different water, institutional, and economic contexts.
 The forum is organized in strategic partnership with the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA). The partnership connects the regulatory agenda with global developments in desalination, water reuse, investment, and innovation, while facilitating access to an international network of regulators, utilities, experts, research institutions, and financial organizations.
 The inaugural forum will feature 28 speakers from 24 countries, four international organizations, and 25 government entities that are counterparts to SWA. Its program will examine the changing role of water regulators, the future of regulatory frameworks, governance and scarcity management, utility performance and compliance, public-private partnerships and financing, digital transformation, innovation, and the regulation of desalination and water reuse.
 The forum will also present regulatory experiences from multiple regions and international markets. Discussions will explore how regulatory integration can move from principle to practice to improve efficiency, resilience, investor confidence, and public value, contributing to a shared agenda for water regulation in systems facing scarcity and increasingly diverse sources of supply.
 The forum will include the official unveiling of the identity and strategic direction of the Water Regulation Exchange (WREx), followed by the signing of its founding documents. This will pave the way for the first edition of WREx in Riyadh in 2027 as an annual international platform for regulatory cooperation, knowledge exchange, and the advancement of water-sector regulatory practices.
 The Water Regulation Forum will take place in Riyadh on November 1, 2026, alongside the IDRA World Congress 2026, hosted by the Kingdom from November 1 to 5 under the patronage of Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Alfadley.