Water Infrastructure Resilience Report 2026
An assessment of municipal water infrastructure resilience to compound climate stress, desalination capacity expansion trends, and the water-energy nexus planning gap.
Cities With Joint Water-Energy Planning
23%
Compound Climate Stress Events Are Outpacing Planning Assumptions
Municipal water and power planning processes surveyed for this report continue to model drought and heat stress largely as independent scenarios, despite growing evidence that compound events, simultaneous drought and heat stress, produce combined water and energy system strain meaningfully exceeding what independent scenario planning would predict.
Desalination Capacity Expansion Continues, With a Focus on Energy Recovery
New desalination capacity additions increasingly specify modern isobaric energy recovery technology as standard practice rather than an optional upgrade, reflecting both the technology's now well-established track record and rising regional electricity price pressure across water-stressed markets tracked in this report.
% of Surveyed Cities
Illustrative survey distribution of water-energy infrastructure planning integration maturity across surveyed municipalities.