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European waste water service providers see the revision of the 1991 Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) as an opportunity to develop an ambitious, innovative, supportive and straight-forward new policy framework enabling operators to meet the Green Deal goals and make waste water collection, treatment and management fit for the decades to come.

New objectives to be delivered must consider the affordability of water services. This includes the long life-cycle of waste water collection and treatment assets and their inherent inflexibility for adaptation or upgrading.

The aim of this paper is to set our general expectations and point at areas to be covered by the impact assessment. Detailed positions or notes on specific topics will be delivered in due course.

Addressing the pollution of water resources in the context of the European Green Deal with its Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPAP) is fundamental for the continued provision of safe and affordable drinking and waste water services, whose essential mission is to protect human health and the aquatic environment.

EurEau fully supports the zero pollution ambition and calls on the Commission to put water front and centre of the plan. Industry and agriculture have an important role to play in controlling pollution and rectifying environmental damage as much as possible at the source.

The action plan should propose concrete actions rather than focussing solely on establishing monitoring frameworks and promoting digital tools. 

Poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of synthetic fluorinated compounds. Due to the unique surface active properties and very high chemical and thermal stability, these substances have been widely used in many applications in industries and in products that we use in our daily life. 

The persistent nature of these substances means that they are very resistant to biodegradation and they are now ubiquitous in the environment, including- sometimes – water sources. Their widespread use in long-life domestic products, particularly carpets and furniture, means that it represents a major legacy issue to be managed.

Water services are essential services. They support the sustainable development of our societies and are fundamental to realising the ambition of the EU Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but little is known about them. This is because the infrastructure is mainly underground, accessible only to a few service engineers and also because it is sometimes situated far from urban areas and protected for obvious security reasons. But also because water services’ organisation differs from country to country due to history, cultural heritage and national or local traditions which result in specific regulatory frameworks.

Our report brings clarity and simplifies the governance of water services in Europe, and our report provides a snapshot of the current situation in the 29 EurEau member countries. It illustrates the diversity of management models, organisational structures, tasks and responsibilities of the players involved at the different levels of governance (EU, national, regional or local).

The water sector strongly supports the Farm-to-Fork Strategy. If fully and ambitiously implemented, it will protect water resources now and for future generations. EurEau calls for stronger policy coordination with the EU’s water-related legislation, the greening of the CAP, the effective implementation of pesticide rules, the drastic reduction of nutrient losses, more support for organic farming and the responsible use of antimicrobials. Water operators stand ready to step up cooperation with farmers in this transition process.

The availability of sufficient and uncontaminated ground- and/or surface water for the production of drinking water is essential to everyone.

The dry summer of 2018 (and for some countries, 2017 too) was a wake-up call for many parts of Europe. This is how drought affects drinking water, and how our sector and governance authorities can respond.

Our world is changing rapidly and so are water services. Innovation is key to guaranteeing the affordability of safe, sustainable and resilient water services for the decades to come. Water service providers are well aware of the challenges and have identified a number of technological and non-technological areas requiring particular innovation efforts with a view to meeting the goals of the European Green Deal. 

The research needs are laid out in this report and should help policy makers in designing research and innovation programmes in a way that responds to the real needs of drinking water and waste water operators.

Water Framework Directive, Drinking Water, Reuse, microplastics, micropollutants, Extended Producer Responsibility; 2019 brought a lot of change and opportunity for the water sector. Our review of the year covers some of our work over the twelve months. 

Our sewer networks are unseen arteries beneath our feet, carrying out the vital tasks of providing sanitation and drainage. They connect our homes, offices and industrial sites to waste water treatment plant. To ensure that those networks are fit for purpose today and into the long term, we need to plan, invest, operate and maintain them accordingly. And yet the nature of our sewer networks across Europe and the challenges they face are diverse, and the pressures they are under are evolving.

This document sets out what EurEau sees as sound, but sufficiently flexible management principles to meet this duality of need.

3 million kilometres of sewers spanning Europe transport the 79-307 litres of water each of us uses every day, for drinking, cooking, washing, cleaning and hygiene to a waste water treatment plant. Read more to find out how our sewers keep us safe and healthy.