Water Expo China is the country’s flagship event for the municipal and industrial water sector, staged annually at the National Convention Center in Beijing. The 2024 edition, scheduled for 13-15 November, combines a 30 000 m² exhibition with a three-day congress that attracts more than 600 exhibitors and 25 000 professional visitors from 40 countries. Organised by the China Association of Water Enterprises and the Municipal Engineering Administration, the gathering is endorsed by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development and is the only water fair in China co-located with the government’s National Water Conservation Week, guaranteeing top-level policy attendance.

The conference is built around six vertical tracks: smart water management, leakage reduction, wastewater resource recovery, sludge minimisation, advanced pipe networks, and rural water supply safety. Each track opens with a ministerial keynote, followed by technical deep-dives and case-study panels. Confirmed speakers include vice-minister of housing Xu Hong, World Bank global water director Saroj Kumar Jha, Singapore Public Utilities Board CEO Johanna Seet, and the heads of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong water affairs bureaus. International technology showcases feature utilities from Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel and Japan, while a start-up pitch theatre selects 30 young companies to present to investors and utility buyers.

The exhibition floor is segmented into zones for membrane and desalination, IoT metering, pump and valve systems, chemical treatment, and emergency water supply. National pavilions from Germany, Norway and South Korea return in 2024, and a dedicated “Dual-Carbon” hall displays energy-positive treatment plants and carbon-credit financing models. A live demo area outside the hall lets visitors inspect trenchless repair robots, smart fire-hydrant sensors and leak-detection drones in operation.

Parallel activities include a procurement match-making programme that pre-schedules 2 000 one-to-one meetings between suppliers and provincial water groups, a talent fair co-hosted by Tsinghua and Tongji universities, and site tours to Beijing’s new 1 million m³/day reclaimed-water plant and the Miyun smart-reservoir pilot. Registration is free for trade visitors before 30 September; congress passes grant access to all sessions, simultaneous translation and the gala dinner. The event is strictly in-person with no online streaming option.