The water industry is largely a global community with common issues and concerns arising around the world. Global coordination of research must occur to improve our scientific knowledge and deal with the increasingly complex and often global challenges facing the water sector today.

It is only through collaboration that the member organisations will be able to leverage funding and expertise by undertaking a centralised approach to global issues facing the water industry. It will allow member organisations to coordinate research strategies and secure additional funding not available to a single country research foundation.

Research conducted through member organisations build on and complement their ongoing activities. GWRC projects do not compete with the existing work of member organisations. Each member organisation will continue to focus on their local national and regional water research issues.

The GWRC serves as a trusted source of high quality scientific and technical information to inform regulators and policy makers, and to help advance the understanding of consumers, regulators and policy makers on critical issues.

The GWRC research priorities are regularly updated based on the actual needs of the members and their stakeholders. The GWRC members interested in specific research areas collectively develop research strategies and an accompanying portfolio of research projects to address the identified information gaps.