The World Water Week in Stockholm is a week-long global water conference held each year in August or September. The World Water Week in Stockholm is arranged and led by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and covers a wide-range of water, development and sustainability issues and aims to help link practice, science, policy and decision making.
Over 2400 participants attend each year, featuring experts and members from business, governments, water management and science sectors, intergovernmental and non governmental organisations, research and training organisations, and United Nations agencies. The conference features plenary sessions and panel debates, scientific workshops, poster exhibitions, side events and seminars. More than 200 organisations collaborate in the organization of events.
During the week, the Stockholm Water Prize, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, and the Stockholm Industry Water Award are awarded at separate ceremonies.
The next conference will be held on August 26–31, 2011 at the Stockholm International Fairs under the theme "Water and Food Security".
The World Water Week in Stockholm originally began as the Stockholm Water Symposium in 1991 and has been convened annually ever since. In 2001, it officially took on the name World Water Week in Stockholm. Past symposia have placed continued multiyeared focus on specific aspects of water problems. The 1992-1997 conferences focused on "Minimising Harmful Fluxes From Land to Water," the 1998–2002 conferences shared the thematic, "Water is the Key to Socio-economic Development and Quality of Life" and the 2003-2007 meetings emphasised the issues surrounding "Drainage Basin Security: Prospects for Trade offs and Benefit Sharing in a Globalised World". The 2008 year conference had the theme "Progress and Prospects on Water: For A Clean and Healthy World." Special attention was given to sanitation issues as part of the International Year of Sanitation 2008.