too little
too much
too dirty
Curator statement
Cities are increasingly confronted with the interlinkages between local and regional water systems. Bearing the mandate of safeguarding the human right to water, sanitation, and a healthy environment, local governments across the world serve as the frontline responders to three fundamental water challenge — whether it be too little, too much, or too dirty. Echoing the CitiesWithNature call to unite and reconnect with urban ecologies, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the World Water Council have jointly undertaken the CitiesWithWater Webinar Series and International Photography Competition — bringing together local agency and a global outlook to foster a multilevel approach to water resilience and governance.
The CitiesWithWater International Photography Competition demonstrates the power of visual storytelling to expand and enrich our understanding of complex urban water systems beyond the technical and policy realms, revealing new dimensions of our relationship to our most precious resource. Adopting a whole-of-society approach, the competition invited photographers around the world — from aspiring hobbyists to emerging professionals, from experienced souls to young storytellers, from civil society and beyond — to capture the stories of cities and urban regions responding to pressing water challenges in a changing world.
Across four thematic categories — Too Little, Too Much, Too Dirty, and Young Storytellers —the 16 finalists collected here present authentic, grounded experiences of people, neighborhoods, communities and organizations exercising local agency to navigate mounting pressures. This mosaic of creative interpretations explores the tensions between urban and rural; immediate solutions and long-term change; individuals and systems; the strength to survive and the limits of resilience; foreboding omens and calls to actions; stark realities and actions channeling collective agency into new visions for the future. Whether creatively reframing a challenge or highlighting an innovative solution, these photographers remind us of the importance of local agency and its role in the transition towards thriving CitiesWithWater.
Winners were announced on 26 August 2025, 13h00 at the UK Pavilion at World Water Week.
Winners
too little
Digging Deep
Kevin Ochieng
Lagdera, Garissa
Kenya
The northern part of Kenya is facing prolonged droughts that have disrupted normal life. This photo showcases two young boys, trying to fetch water from a dried-up, hand-dug well in Garissa town.
too much
Silent Witness to the Sinking of Jakarta
Dikye Ariani
Penjaringan, North Jakarta
Indonesia
The Wal Adhuna Mosque, which used to stand firmly in the Muara Baru area of Penjaringan, North Jakarta, has become a silent witness to how the capital city area is slowly sinking due to rising sea levels and sinking land surfaces.
too dirty
Cleaning up the Shore
Gerdie Hutomo
Muara Angke, Jakarta
Indonesia
A worker is cleaning up the shore, stacked up with garbage from the inner city in Jakarta.
Young Storytellers
Beneath the Bridge, Beyond the Waste
Sujal Pandey
Bagmati River Bank near UN Park, Lalitpur
Nepal
Beneath the weight of the bridge and a sky dulled by dust, a man walks a path made not of soil, but of trash. Plastic bottles, wrappers, and broken glass have replaced the natural riverbed. Watching him step through this mess, I wondered — Is this what resilience looks like? Or is it just survival? The Bagmati once flowed with life, but now even its banks seem burdened with what we’ve discarded. This image speaks of human endurance, but also of how far we’ve let our surroundings fall.
Shortlisted entries
too little
Watered Fields, Dry Future
Doaa Adel
Sharqia Governorate
Egypt
In a flooded rice nursery in the Nile Delta, a woman gathers seedlings for replanting. While vital for livelihoods, such water-intensive farming adds pressure to already scarce water resources — raising urgent questions about sustainability in a drying landscape.
Surviving the Struggle
Ene Ochayi
Makurdi
Nigeria
In Makurdi North, daily life is characterized by water scarcity. Boreholes frequently collapse ecause of inconsistent electricity supply, and traditional wells quickly dry up during heat waves. Yet, people still find a way to adapt. This photograph captures a woman gathering water from a shallow pond in a field — an immediate solution when all other options run dry. When conventional sources of water are no longer an option, the majority walk long distances to ad hoc or hand-dug water sources to gather enough to get by until wells fill up or electricity is restored to power boreholes. It is in moments like these, waiting and scooping water from the Earth, that survival continues.
The Monsoon's Mirage:
An Enduring Thirst in Okhamandal
Prakhar Bisht
Mithapur, Okhamandal
India
In Okhamandal, Gujarat, a semi-arid region, monsoon rains offer little respite. This photo, taken during the rainy season, reveals the harsh reality: water scarcity persists. Women still trek long distances, their vessels a heavy testament to the daily struggle. This scene powerfully illustrates how climate change and rapid urbanization amplify water crises, disproportionately burdening women. Her journey is a stark reminder that even with rain, many communities face a relentless quest for water, underscoring an urgent need for equitable and sustainable solutions.
too much
Flooding Without Immediate Solution
Carlos Medina
Barrio Chamico, Zamora
Ecuador
Alluvial mining floods the Chamico sector of Zamora, leaving its inhabitants homeless.
The Ibeshe community of Ikorodu in Lagos, Nigeria, recognizes their local lake and the lagoon that surrounds it as a valuable resource. The community has chosen to preserve the lake for local water supply and periodic fishing, carrying out routine cleaning. Excess water conserved by the community ends up being redistributed to surrounding settlements, where it can be accessed as groundwater via wells and pumps. Potential flooding during the rainy seasons is mitigated by makeshift embankments constructed around the lake by the community, regulating the flow of water and keeping the community safe.
Blurred Edges
Lena Bakalian
Lake Petén Itzá, Flores
Guatemala
This image, taken in Flores, Guatemala, captures severe flooding caused by intense and prolonged rainfall — a stark reminder of the growing impacts of climate change in vulnerable regions. Once a picturesque lakeside town, Flores now faces the mounting consequences of extreme weather patterns and rising water levels, threatening both its natural beauty and the lives of its residents. This photo highlights the urgent need for global climate action and local resilience.
too dirty
A man collects valuables from waste floating in a canal in Kolkata, India. Kolkata’s extensive canal system helps to manage excessive water levels during the monsoon season. However, these urban waterways face significant clogging from discarded garbage and water hyacinths, which severely degrade their water-carrying capacity. To address this issue, the authorities have implemented waste barriers, or trash booms, that block the flow of litter and facilitate periodic cleaning of the channels.
Too Dirty, Still Thriving: Life and Livelihood
Henzon Estrada
Pasig City
Philippines
This aerial image shows a duck egg farmer navigating a polluted section of the Pasig River in Pasig City, Philippines, surrounded by ducks raised for balut. Despite the black, trash-filled water, the ducks thrive, highlighting a stark contrast between human resilience and environmental neglect. It reflects how poverty pushes communities to adapt in hazardous conditions just to survive. While the government is working to clean the river through desilting and installing trash barriers, this image reminds us of the urgent need for sustainable solutions. It’s a visual story of survival, tradition, and the difficult balance between livelihood and the environment.
Little Efforts by Little Hands
Isaac Nyenje
Ggaba, Kampala
Uganda
This image depicts a sculpture we dubbed “Empuuta Ya Nalubaale” (The Lung Fish of Lake Victoria). It was conceived by the multidisciplinary artist, Arinitwe Peter. He set up a community-based organization called Plastik Talks, through which we worked with the community in Ggaba to collect plastic bottles from the shores of Lake Victoria. As a team, we inspired and educated the community, youth, and children on how to safeguard their environment against the dangers of plastic pollution. The children’s participation is representative of the younger generation playing its part in securing a safe, plastic-free future.
Young Storytellers
Harvesting Hope
Michele Castrezzati
Toorji Ka Jhalra Bavdi, Jodhpur
India
Faced with climate change-induced drought, cities in the state of Rajasthan, India, are revamping antique rainwater harvesting structures. Stepwells like the one in Jodhpur, after decades of abandonment, are turning into essential, decentralized water collection systems that provide access to water as well as thermal relief during the dry season. These stepwells, together with other rainwater harvesting techniques widely adopted in Rajasthan, represent how ancient knowledge can be turned into low-tech solutions to address water scarcity.
Vital Drop
Filbert Minja
Soko Kuu Market, Arusha
Tanzania
In Soko Kuu Market, Arusha, Hawa cooks and sells food to support her family. Though water may start clean, dirty containers and unhygienic conditions at crowded, shared taps often lead to contamination. Bottled water is too costly, forcing vendors to risk their health. Developed through a water operators’ partnership, this pre-paid water filtration and dispensing kiosk (“ATM”) now gives Hawa access to safe, affordable water for cooking and drinking, reducing disease risk and plastic waste. This image shows her drawing clean water, an act that means health, dignity, and hope for a safer future.
Grace and the Channel of Survival
Olateju Oladepo
Makoko, Lagos
Nigeria
Aunty Grace pulls her canoe through a stretch of the Makoko Channel, water lapping at the edges of stilt homes, now more vulnerable than ever. In the canoe: wrapped fufu for sale. The tides have changed, not by nature, but by the government’s nearby landfilling project, pushing water levels higher in the community. With each paddle, she navigates uncertainty, sustaining her two school-aged children through grit and grace. In Makoko, “too little” means too little say in decisions that threaten their homes, their safety, and their futures.
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