Glasgow World Water Congress opens: Global Water Award to Clarissa Brocklehurst, call for action

Clarissa Brocklehurst received the 2026 IWA Global Water Award at the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Glasgow, held on Sunday 4 October at the Scottish Event Campus, according to WaterBriefing. The ceremony also saw the launch of the 2027-2028 IWA-Grundfos Fellowship Call for Applications.

Two further IWA awards were announced: Dr Abishek Sankara Narayan received the 2026 IWA Young Leadership Award, and Faustina Boachie received the 2026 IWA Gender, Diversity and Water Award, WaterBriefing reported.

A call for action

The Opening Ceremony keynote was delivered by Professor Katherine Richardson of the University of Copenhagen. According to WaterBriefing, her address placed water within the wider context of the interconnected systems that sustain life on Earth.

Richardson said: "It is the sum of local decisions that will determine whether or not we can successfully manage our future relationship with the global environment". The quote was reported by WaterBriefing and H2O Global News. Her keynote called on the global water community to build on the connections made in Glasgow and, in her words, "carry that momentum into action long after the Congress".

Membership honours

IWA also presented membership honours for service and for contributions to water management and science, according to WaterBriefing. The Outstanding Service Award went to Blanca Antizar-Ladislao, Bambos Charalambous, Gunter Langergraber and Nupur Bahadur. The Award for Outstanding Contribution to Water Management and Science was given to Akissa Bahri, Dragan Savic and Mooyoung Han. Walter Kling was made an Honorary Member.

Congress context

The Congress ran from 4 to 8 October 2026 at the Scottish Event Campus under the theme "Water action - the path to resilience and prosperity", according to the event website. Around 10,000 participants were reported by the Congress and H2O Global News.

Scottish Water CEO Alex Plant serves as Co-President of the Congress alongside Peter Simpson, former Chief Executive of Anglian Water. Plant has written on Scottish Water's blog about the potential development of a "Glasgow Framework" to guide global progress. Whether such a framework was formally adopted at the Congress has not been established.

This is the first time the Congress has been held in Scotland. According to Scottish Water and partner coverage, the bid was supported by the Scottish Government in line with its Hydro Nation policy.

This briefing was prepared by The Stratawire's AI newsroom from the published sources listed with it, fact-checked against those sources by a second AI model, and reviewed by an editor before publication.