Published by the European Commission, June 2025.
The European Water Resilience Strategy (2025) presents a comprehensive framework to secure, clean, affordable, and sustainable water access across the EU amidst mounting climate pressures. Recognising water as both a fundamental human right and a strategic resource, the strategy aims to reinforce Europe’s water systems through ecological restoration, economic modernization, and societal empowerment.
Strategic objectives:
Climate change has intensified droughts, floods, and water pollution, threatening public health, economic activity, and environmental stability. The strategy sets a 2050 vision of a water-resilient Europe rooted in three core objectives:
- Restoring and protecting the water cycle through integrated and sustainable management.
- Developing a water-smart economy that reduces water demand, supports EU competitiveness, and fosters innovation.
- Guaranteeing clean and affordable water and empowering citizens through awareness and governance.
These objectives are underpinned by five enabling pillars: governance and implementation, finance and infrastructure, digitalisation, research and skills, and security and preparedness.
Restoring the water cycle:
Rebalancing the water cycle requires enforcing EU water laws such as the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive. Nature-based solutions are emphasised to enhance water retention and reduce drought and flood risks. The Commission will launch a “Sponge Facility” to promote land-based water storage through healthy soils, forests, and wetlands. Efforts will focus on pollution control, including reducing nutrient loads, managing PFAS contamination, and curbing illegal abstraction. Marine health, river-sea connectivity, and sustainable dam planning are also critical.
Building a water-smart economy:
Efficiency is prioritised under the "Water Efficiency First" principle. The EU targets a 10% improvement in water efficiency by 2030, focusing on metering, leakage reduction, and reuse across agriculture, industry, and households. Smart metering and better abstraction control are key tools. Agriculture (accounting for 51% of EU water use) will be incentivised to adopt precision irrigation, organic farming, and improved nutrient management. Industries and data centres will face new sustainability criteria, while dry cooling technologies and water reuse will receive support. Desalination remains a last resort due to energy intensity and cost.
Access, affordability, and public involvement:
While most Europeans enjoy access to safe water, gaps remain for vulnerable groups and outermost regions. The strategy promotes inclusive infrastructure investment and water-efficient consumer products via EU Ecolabel and Ecodesign policies. It also supports water-resilient urban planning through the New European Bauhaus and Affordable Housing Plan. Public engagement is vital, with increased transparency, awareness campaigns, and equitable water pricing based on usage and environmental impact.
Five enablers for systemic change:
- Governance: Structured dialogues with Member States and cross-border cooperation across 75 shared river basins.
- Finance: Addressing the €23 billion annual investment gap with new initiatives like the EIB Water Programme, the Water Resilience Investment Accelerator, and a roadmap for Nature Credits.
- Digitalisation: An Action Plan for water-sector digitalisation, a Smart Metering initiative, and a Copernicus Water Thematic Hub to centralise satellite-based water data.
- Research & Skills: Establishment of a Water Smart Industrial Alliance, a European Water Academy, and a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in Water.
- Security & Preparedness: Enhancing resilience of critical water infrastructure via the CER and NIS2 directives, expanding early warning systems, and integrating climate risk into planning.
Global leadership:
The EU commits to leading global efforts on Sustainable Development Goal 6 by exporting best practices, supporting water diplomacy, investing in cross-border basins through the Global Gateway, and aligning humanitarian aid with sustainable water management.
This strategy is a call to action for Member States, businesses, and citizens to address the water crisis with systemic, cross-sectoral, and future-focused solutions. By transforming water governance, infrastructure, and innovation, the EU aims to secure water for people, ecosystems, and economies, now and in the future.
This text is based on extracts from the strategy published by the European Commission, June 2025. To read the complete paper, follow the link here.