The key messages of this policy brief are:

•    Due to the rapid growth of the world’s towns and cities sustainable development must focus on the relationships between water, energy, and land use, and diversifying sources of water.
•     Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) provides a flexible and responsive framework for planning, designing, and managing urban water systems. 
•     IUWM includes environmental, economic, social, technical, and political aspects of water management. It brings together fresh water, wastewater, storm water, and solid waste, and enables better management of water quantity and quality.
•     IUWM calls for aligning urban development with basin management to ensure sustainable economic, social, and environmental urban-rural relations.
•    Urban water planners will shift from being resource users to resource managers.
•     IUWM projects require significant funding, but public agencies in many countries have limited ability to invest in infrastructure.
•     Improving economic service efficiency and minimising water will need increased cooperation with the private sector. 
•     Developing ‘eco-cities’ will enable waste products to be used to meet energy and material needs