Water and energy are two essential resources, the availability of which is already becoming critical in some societies. Both factors are influenced by climate change. Consequently, protective countermeasures (adaptation) as well as preventive measures against further climate change (mitigation) will be required to maintain durable and sustainable water and energy resources.

In need of the scarce water resources, various energy-related water consumers (e.g. cooling water for power plants) have to compete with other water users, like agriculture, urban water consumers and industry. Also, the interaction between water and energy may have environmental impacts, for instance spatial effects of hydropower generation and surface water temperature increase due to cooling water discharges. Overexploitation by fast growing megacities and droughts caused by climate change may severely reduce the available natural water resources, requiring more and more energy intensive technologies for water extraction and drinking water production (e.g. desalination). Similarly, stricter discharge requirements to improve surface water quality and ecology may require extended wastewater treatment technology, with higher power consumption and larger carbon footprint. All these developments require innovative technical solutions and changes in behavior. The combination of water and energy gives new opportunities making use of thermal and chemical energy from wastewater, groundwater and surfacewater.

The IWA Water and Energy conference 2010 in Amsterdam is a follow-up of the IWA Water and Energy conference in Copenhagen, Denmark 2009. The 2010 event will have an emphasis on demonstration and implementation, e.g. examples of energy innovations in the water sector.