Water is life.

It is that simple.

In order to survive we need this vital element, just as much as we need air, sunlight and food. Nothing can live without access to water. Therefore, ensuring the quality of water is one of the great challenges of the 21st Century which the World must overcome. In order to do so, the scientist, the researcher, the politician, the water professional, the citizen, the artist, all genders, ethnic groups, and social sectors of all ages, but especially the younger generations, must learn to work together. Society must be engaged. Reliable data must be made accessible to all. And that knowledge must be converted into realistic, tangible actions if we are to build and guarantee a future for all. That is the purpose of the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA), its members, and its governing bodies. Join us.

The WWQA: The beginnings

Water quality is obviously influenced by natural phenomena. However, most oceans, lakes and rivers are affected sometimes to a dramatic extent by human activity. We urgently need to not only understand how this affects the quality of water but just as importantly, how we can address these challenges.

This basic fact of life was recognised by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) at its third session in December 2017 when it adopted Resolution 3/10 “Addressing water pollution to protect and restore water-related ecosystems” (UNEP/EA.3/Res.10). This requested the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to develop a World Water Quality Assessment for the consideration of UNEA. To begin the development of the Assessment, UNEP, with support from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), organised a workshop in November 2018. During the workshop, UNEP convened approximately 50 organisations (UN, research, civil society, private sector), which had expressed an interest to engage in the Assessment and furthermore, to work with UNEP in co-designing agendas and actions regarding emerging issues of concern affecting water quality. This process marked the founding of the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) as an open community of practice with several workstreams currently under implementation.

The World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) represents a voluntary, flexible and global, multi-stakeholder network that advocates the central role of freshwater quality in achieving prosperity and sustainability. It explores, monitors, analyses and communicates water quality risks at global, regional, national and local levels with the aim of identifying solutions for the maintenance and restauration of the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans. The WWQA serves countries throughout the lifetime of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond. It provides a participatory platform for water quality assessment and the co-design of tailored and demand-driven services at all levels with a special emphasis on the involvement of local communities and the younger generations whose future is at risk.

The WWQA focuses on improving the quality of water around the World by working as a genuine partnership. Everyone, no matter their qualifications or expertise, has an important role to play. The efforts of the WWQA are currently divided into 16 active workstreams to ensure the involvement of society as a whole.

Our history

December 2017

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted resolution 3/10 “Addressing water pollution to protect and restore water-related ecosystems” (UNEP/EA.3/Res.10). It requested the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to develop a world water quality assessment for consideration UNEA at its fifth session.

November 2018

To commence the development of the assessment, UNEP, with support from the World Meteorological Organization, organized an inception workshop. During the workshop, UNEP convened around 50 organizations (UN, research, civil society, private sector), which had expressed interest to engage in the assessment and to also work with UNEP in co-designing agendas and action around emerging issues. This process with strong support from donors marked the emergence of a World Water Quality Alliance as an open community of practice. UNEP, and more specifically the Global Environment Monitoring Unit in the Science Division, undertook the role of the Secretariat of the Alliance.

November 2019

A second workshop was co-organised with the European Commission. The event was held at the European Commission (Joint Research Centre) in Ispra (Italy). The meeting marked the advent of an enhanced socio-political awareness of water-quality issues and gave rise to a work programme designed to address such issues. It was emphasised that the Alliance would provide governments and other stakeholders with relevant evidence-based assessment, scenarios, solutions and services on water quality issues. The workshop brought together a wide range of expertise in the fields of water quality science, technology innovation, governance and diplomacy to seek solutions. At the time, Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries stated: “The creation of the World Water Quality Alliance is the latest example of the strong environmental partnership between the UN and the EU. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Commission (Joint Research Centre) have formed this alliance to help turn the growing concern about the worsening global freshwater crisis into action.

January 2022

The 3rd Annual Global Meeting of the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) co-hosted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN Environment took place online. The theme of the meeting was ‘Data to Knowledge, Knowledge to Action’. Its objectives were to present ongoing work and interfaces and products contributing towards the World Water Quality Assessment that would be shared on the UNEP World Environment Situation Room (WESR) as the main portal to update UNEP Member States towards the World Water Quality Assessment. The 14 WWQA workstreams contributing to the Alliance’s aims, presented their progress and a future agenda was established aimed at broadening the technological, capacity-development, social and political effects of the work of the Alliance.

October 2022

The number of World Water Quality Alliance workstreams was increased from 14 to 16.

November 2022

The World Water Quality Alliance in collaboration with Konstanz University of Applied Sciences (HTWG) and the Women for Water Partnership organised the World Water Quality Alliance Conference 2022.The aim of the event was to demonstrate that local communities are key to the overcoming of global water-based challenges. The Conference was organised to promote local dialogue, engagement and exchange, to highlight how the data generated by the World Water Quality Assessment could be transformed into practical local action and how, as a result, local society could maintain a permanent dialogue with decision-makers at a supranational level. Development aid experts, chief scientists and water experts observed, learned from and engaged with the Local Water Forums and the Youth Organisations who work with the WWQA. The results and achievements of the WWQA Local Water Forums and the initiatives undertaken by the WWQA Youth Platform were presented in what constituted part of the build-up to the UN Water Conference 2023. The conference established permanent ties between the high-level strategist and the local stakeholder, between youth and society as a whole. It promoted the transformation of scientific knowledge into practical local actions, and it enhanced the role of the local community as the means of resolving one of the most important global challenges of our times, water quality.