too little
too much
too dirty
WEBINAR SERIES & PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
ICLEI and World Water Council forge partnership to tackle global water challenges
We are proud to announce the shorlisted entries for the CitiesWithWater photography competition!
Contemporary water and sanitation challenges increasingly confront cities with the interlinkages between local water systems and regional catchments. Local governments are the frontline responders to the impacts of climate change and carry the mandate to fulfil the human right to water and sanitation while protecting communities from hazards such as floods and drought.
Against this backdrop, and echoing the CitiesWithNature call to unite and reconnect with urban ecologies, ICLEI and the WWC have undertaken a joint initiative under the banner of CitiesWithWater.
Together, the two organizations strive to foster a multilevel approach to water resilience and governance, showcasing experience of the political leadership as well as the technical experts tasked with ensuring urban water resilience. This collaboration is particularly timely as the world faces unprecedented water challenges, driven by climate change, rapid urbanization, and economic development. By bringing together ICLEI’s network of local governments and the WWC’s global perspective on water governance, CitiesWithWater aims to elevate water as a critical priority in the global pursuit of sustainable and equitable development.
Through 2025, the CitiesWithWater initiative will be driven by a webinar series as well as an accompanying international photography competition. United by their focus on showcasing and learning from the ways that local governments and communities are addressing critical, often interrelated challenges of water — whether it be too little, too much, or too dirty.
Webinar series
The CitiesWithWater Webinar Series brings together political and technical representatives from cities around the world to share insights and lessons from their proactive efforts to build water resilience at the local level. The series comprises four interactive sessions over the course of 2025: three dedicated each to an archetypal water challenge facing cities today — Too Little, Too Much and Too Dirty — and a fourth offering space to explore the interface between these challenges and chart a course of action for partnerships between local governments and the international community. To foster meaningful learning and exchange between speakers as well audience members, each webinar will encourage questions and dedicate time to a moderated discussion.
Each webinar will run for 90 minutes and broadly adhere to the following format:
10 min
10 min
40 min
20 min
10 min
Welcome & introductions
Keynote messages
Panellist presentations & clarifying questions
Moderated discussion & audience Q&A
Closing remarks
Webinar 1: Too little
Off the heels of World Water Day 2025, the fist webinar spoke to the most evocative of challenges: avoiding Day Zero. In addition to presenting messages of inspiration from the WWC and ICLEI’s global leadership, this session showcased speakers and case studies from several cities around the world, exploring the innovative ways in which they have grappled with and overcome existential challenges threatening the security of their present and future water supply — including droughts, rapid population growth, and competing regional demand. The first webinar also saw the official launch of the accompanying CitiesWithWater International Photography Competition.
Webinar details
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
13h00 CET
Online (Zoom)
OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh
Mayor of Malmö City and President of ICLEI
Loic Fauchon
President of the World Water Council
OUR SPEAKERS
Thembisa Gqamane
Senior Professional Officer, Water and Sanitation Directorate City of Cape Town
Presenting the case of Cape Town
Benedito Braga
Former CEO SABESP President Latin-American Water Council
Presenting the case of São Paulo
Fernando Cabello, PhD
Director of Serveis del Cicle de l’Aigua Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB)
Presenting the case of Barcelona
Mohamed El Idrissi
1st Vice President City Council of Marrakesh
Presenting the case of Marrakesh
Webinar 2: Too Much
On the other end of the spectrum, the second webinar will turn to challenges linked to an excess of water, spanning sea level rise to flooding to sustainable stormwater management. A changed climate means that cycles of floods and droughts follow each other, each exacerbating the impacts of the other. In this session, speakers will delve into the transformative thinking and brave new measures required in the creation of water-sensitive cities, sustainably slowing and integrating the water cycle into its various interrelated systems.
Webinar details
Wednesday, 18 June 2025
13h00 CET
Online (Zoom)
OUR SPEAKERS
Kazufumi Onishi
Mayor Kumamoto City Government
Presenting the case of Kumamoto
Bwalya Funga
Senior Community Development Officer, Community Engagement Coordinator and Resource Mobilization Chairperson Lusaka Water Security Initiative
Presenting the case of Lusaka
Wenwu Yan
President Ningbo Water Conservancy & Hydropower Planning and Design Institute
Presenting the case of Ningbo
Maria Nikolaidou
EU Programs & Initatives Officer – Operational Planning Municipality of Larissa
Presenting the case of Larissa
Michail Tsiaras
Head of the Department of Civil Protection Municipality of Larissa
Presenting the case of Larissa
Webinar 3: Too Dirty
The third webinar will shift attention from the quantity of water to matters of water quality — placing emphasis on the often-neglected challenge of sanitation. Rising temperatures globally have seen the expansion of the range of water-borne diseases and pathogens and pose direct threats to the health of urban communities. This session’s panel will reflect on their efforts to safeguard human health and dignity in relation to challenges ranging from wastewater management to water reuse to the ecological health of catchment areas.
Webinar details
Tuesday, 16 September 2025
13h00 CET
Online (Zoom)
Download the speaker presentations here
OUR SPEAKERS
Gi-chang Kwon
Mayor
Andong, Korea
Ahmet Saatci
Senior Professional Officer
Water and Sanitation Directorate, Istanbul, Turkey
Russel Stow
Manager
Transformative Riverine Management Programme (TRMP), eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
Katarina Forslöw
Project Leader in the Land and Water Administration
City of Stockholm, Sweden
oUR SPEAKERS
Ahmet Saatci
Senior Professional Officer
Water and Sanitation Directorate, Istanbul, Turkey
Russel Stow
Manager
Transformative Riverine Management Programme (TRMP), eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
Katarina Forslöw
Project Leader in the Land and Water Administration
City of Stockholm, Sweden
Webinar 4: Too Valuable
To date, the CitiesWithWater Webinar Series has highlighted the innovative actions that cities globally are taking in response to the interrelated challenges of water that is either Too Little, Too Much, or Too Dirty. Cutting across all three challenges is the crucial need for strong partnerships to support cities in accessing the necessary finances to develop infrastructure, conserve water catchments, and provide sustainable water and sanitation services. The fourth and final webinar — Too Valuable: Partnerships for Financing Urban Water Resilience — will address this theme by creating a space for dialogue between senior local elected officials, international financial institutions, and development partners. The emerging roundtable discussion will enable meaningful exchange, showcase concrete local solutions, and identify innovative mechanisms and partnerships to ensure sustainable financing for urban water resilience.
Webinar details
Wednesday, 21 January 2026
13h00 CET
Online (Zoom)
Registration link TBC
oUR SPEAKERS
Ahmet Saatci
Senior Professional Officer
Water and Sanitation Directorate, Istanbul, Turkey
Russel Stow
Manager
Transformative Riverine Management Programme (TRMP), eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
Katarina Forslöw
Project Leader in the Land and Water Administration
City of Stockholm, Sweden
Photography Competition
We are proud to announce the shortlisted and winning entries of the CitiesWithWater International Photography Competition!
From drought to floods to pollution, urban communities worldwide face three fundamental water challenges — too little, too much or too dirty. To mark World Water Day, the CitiesWithWater International Photography Competition invites you to showcase and celebrate innovative local actions — at the individual, community and city levels — tackling these challenges and creating a more resilient, sustainable relationship with our most precious resource.
As a companion to the concurrent CitiesWithWater Webinar Series, the International Photography Competition highlights the potential of visual storytelling to enrich our understanding of complex urban water systems, revealing new dimensions of our interactions with them. Adopting a whole-of-society approach, the competition welcomes voices and perspectives from a diversity of local actors and communities from cities around the world, especially encouraging those of younger generations.
How is your city responding to pressing water challenges in a changing world? Capture the stories of individuals, communities, and cities reshaping their water systems for a more resilient future!
Join us in shifting the narrative from water challenges to solutions, inspiring action towards thriving and resilient CitiesWithWater!
Submissions are now closed
Winners were announced on 26 August 2025 at the UK Pavilion during World Water Week.
Submission Guidelines
Participants are invited to submit up to one entry per category:
Too Little: Initiatives addressing a shortage of, or limited access to, drinking water.
Too Much: Actions tackling flooding, sea level rise or other water-related hazards.
Too Dirty: Ways of dealing with polluted water sources and degraded aquatic ecosystems for improved human wellbeing and ecological health.
Each entry must include the following elements:
One high-quality image that clearly depicts the chosen challenge (Too Little, Too Much or Too Dirty) and highlights an innovative or inspiring local initiative addressing it.
A brief title
A short description/story (max. 200 words) about the chosen local action, the people behind it, and how it addresses the chosen water challenge.
Please submit each image as a JPEG/JPG or PNG file (max. 10 MB), with the following naming format: Category – First Name + Last Name (e.g. Too Little – Fatima Musa).
Submissions close at midnight Central European Time on 30 June 2025.
- All entrants must be over the age of 18.
- The competition is open to photographs across all levels of proficiency and sectors of society, budding hobbyists and professionals alike.
- All images must be taken and submitted with the permission of their subject(s), in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation. Personal information of subject(s) must not be visible without proper consent.
- Images in which children are clearly identifiable by their faces will be disqualified. However, non-identifiable silhouettes and children in image backgrounds are permitted.
- All photographs must respect the privacy and dignity of individuals. Images that are voyeuristic or degrading to the dignity of the subject(s) will be disqualified.
- Images may be submitted from any geographical region.
- The content and context of the images must be of, or in, a city or urban environment or city-region.
- “Local initiatives” can include different geographic scales within a city (e.g. individual, household, neighborhood, community, district or city-level).
- Photographs may be taken with any kind of camera. Minor editing is permitted to enhance the natural quality of the image (e.g. cropping, sharpening, light exposure adjustments and color correction). However, entries that heavily alter the image or rely on generative artificial intelligence (AI) will be disqualified.
Shortlisted images will be evaluated by and international judging panel on the following criteria:
- Thematic alignment: How well do the image, title and description align to collectively embody the theme? This refers to how effectively the image captures the chosen water-related challenge (Too Little, Too Dirty or Too Much) and the process and/or outcome of the chosen local initiative. Importantly, images should transcend only the depiction of the challenge itself and focus on the chosen solution.
- Aesthetic value and technical quality: How effectively has the photographer used visual techniques to convey the theme? Light, composition, contrast and other photographic elements should work together to produce images of high technical quality that support and strengthen the story that the photographer aims to tell about their chosen initiative and the people driving it.
- Impact and creativity: How powerfully does the image evoke emotion, stoke imagination, challenge preconceived notions or provoke new ideas? Entries will be evaluated based on their originality, creativity and the lasting impact of their visual storytelling.
- Participants retain all copyrights to their images, and will be credited in writing with any use of their submitted images.
- By submitting an image to the competition, participants confirm that the entry is their own work and that they have the permissions necessary to share it with ICLEI and the World Water Council.
- Upon submission of their entry, each participant grants ICLEI and the World Water Council the right to use their image(s) in the following ways:
- Required: To showcase their image on all applicable ICLEI and World Water Council platforms for the purposes of promoting, conducting and reporting on the CitiesWithWater Webinar Series and International Photography Competition.
- Optional: To showcase their images on all applicable ICLEI and World Water Council platforms to promote future photographic competitions and water-related events.
Prizes
With the generous support of Arup, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Water as Leverage Initiative, and the World Water Council, the competition awarded four winning prizes of EUR 1,000 each: one per thematic category and a special youth prize (ages 18–29 inclusive).
TOO LITTLE
€1000
TOO MUCH
€1000
TOO DIRTY
€1000
special youth prize
€1000
Thank you to our sponsors
Timeline
Competition launched on World Water Day
22 March 2025
Entries closed
Midnight (CET), 30 June 2025
Winners announced
August 2025
Join us in the journey of becoming CitiesWithWater!
For for information on the CitiesWithWater webinar series:
Please contact Laurene Yard and Anton Earle
For any questions about the CitiesWithWater photography competition:
Please contact Luka Dreyer
too little
too much
too dirty