Showcase your best practice, latest innovation, cutting-edge
technology or industry-leading research at Europe's
premier event for wastewater professionals.
The Call for Abstracts is now officially open! Submission deadline 30 January.
Water as a waste is an outdated concept that does not recognise the inherent resource value. Nutrients, energy, platform compounds and water can all be recovered and reused but adoption of circular practises most often requires fiscal and legal incentives to be realised. Our catchments have become a convenient, low-cost disposal route for many emerging compounds. The roll out of the Industrial Emissions Directive has the potential to shift the narrative. Larger wastewater treatment sites that incorporate anaerobic digestion face stringent Environmental Quality Standards on the effluent discharge. This will lead to the adoption of quaternary treatment options but also a root and branches review of the sources, including trade effluents and third-party waste imports. Is there an opportunity to treat at source, recover the value, centralise treatment and who will pay?
Treatment standards continue to tighten with ultra-low total nitrogen and phosphorus limits a reality, there is an urgent need to maximise, extend and intensify our asset base to deliver resilient performance. The aspiration of zero pollutions dominates much of the AMP8 spend but ultimately will require a shift in the way water is managed. Nitrous oxide emissions continue to dominate greenhouse gas contributions. The need to mitigate and act now is clear, but without business drivers how will progress be made and when will we see the impact considered within designs? Perhaps AI will help but when, with what and how?
Changing the way we and the public think and perceive the industry is perhaps the biggest challenge, intense media scrutiny remains ever present. Across the whole supply chain it is clear that we need to heighten our efforts to collaborate and innovate.
This year’s EWWM conference will as always, focus on practitioners’ experiences and provides a platform for our water community to drive improvement, collaboration and change.
2026 EWWM Conference Themes:
We are currently inviting abstracts for both oral and poster presentations under the following themes:
- Process Emissions – with a focus on case studies of successful mitigation strategies and incorporation of low emissions thinking into design principles.
- Zero Pollutions – managing and mitigating storm and rainfall events, CSOs
- Water re-use & Water fit for purpose – Generating resources from final effluent, water security and efficiency, drought prevention
- Achieving low total nitrogen and low total phosphorus consents – approaches and case studies
- Micropollutants and emerging contaminants – source control, catchment management and treatment, including Nature Based Solutions
- Maximising the potential and resilience of assets – Getting more from what we have, intensifying processes, extending the asset base
- Operating for the future – Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, Connected Catchments, Biorefineries
- Bigger picture thinking - we welcome strategic perspectives on the industry
We ask that all abstract submissions include details of the carbon emissions of the project and how it can/could contribute to the circular economy.
2025 Poster Winner - Ayisha Affo Souleymane, Cranfield University
Student & Early Career Professionals' Poster Award
The award will be judged and presented during the conference and is open to students and early career professionals under 35 working in the water industry.
Presenting a poster at the EWWM is an opportunity to showcase your work to over 400 industry professionals.
Attending conferences is also a great way to improve your professional network and expand your knowledge of the industry. Students and early career professionals are also offered significantly reduced rates – please see the registration page for further details.
*Early career professionals must be an individual working professionally in the wastewater sector for less than 3 years after graduation; or an academic/postgraduate/post doctorate in a permanent position in a UK institution (full or part time), with no more than three years of experience at lecturer level.