EurEau News

Speaking out

Francesca Pizza, chairperson of our JWG on Water Reuse, spoke at the IMPEL Water and Land ET Conference in Venice, Italy on October 29-30 on water governance and smart water resilience.

We will be represented by Gari Villa-Landa (EurEau Secretariat) at the SOVAK annual conference in Czechia on 14 November, discussing energy neutrality in the UWWTD (recast).

Sébastien Mouret (EurEau Secretariat) will represent us at the CEBEDEAU conference on organic micropollutants in Liège, Belgium on 21 November to discuss EU legislation on micropollutants. He will also speak at the City Lighthouse for Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management conference in Istanbul, Türkiye on 27 November, on the topic of water resilience in the EU.

Pär Dalhielm will join the panel at the EESC, European Consumer Day 2024 on 9 December on water challenges: exploring consumer perspective - moving ahead on the EU Blue Deal.

EU news

Water legislation

Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD): Council adopts!

The UWWTD (recast) was adopted by the Parliament on 08.10.2024 and then approved by the Council on 05.11.24. We welcome the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to cover the cost of micropollutant removal, setting an important precedent for the implementation of the Polluter Pays Principle in the water sector. You can read our reaction here. A big ‘thank you’ to our colleagues and members who all contributed so much to achieving this important milestone to benefit consumers and the environment.

Environmental Quality Standards (EQS): EurEau urges MEPs to begin trilogues

The first trilogue on the revision of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Groundwater Directive (GWD) and Environmental Quality Standards Directive (EQSD) are currently not envisaged before January 2025. This could delay the final text such that Member States are unable to implement new rules in their upcoming 2027 River Basin Management Plans, covering the period 2028-2033.

Information Sharing Platform news

The webinar on the challenge for wastewater operators in meeting the energy neutrality obligations in the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive took place in early November, highlighting case studies from the Netherlands, Finland, France and Spain. The ppts are all here and you can join the discussion here. Thanks to John Casey (Uisce Eireann, Ireland) for organising, Sarah Gillman (Water UK, UK) for moderating and to our speakers, Kristian Sahlstedt (Finland), Aart Los (the Netherlands), Pere Aguilo (Spain) Hugues Vanden Bossche (France).We are looking for topics for the 2025 schedule so if there is a topic you’d like to discuss, let This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. know.

The Information Sharing Platform is open to EurEau member associations and their members as well as academics. It is an online space for you to share and discuss your innovative ideas and solutions to water challenges we are facing, with your colleagues from across Europe.

Other news

Happy birthday!

A big happy 50^th birthday to ALUSEAU, the Luxemburgish association of water services providers. Congratulations and here’s to the next fifty years!

New EEA report: Europe's state of water 2024: the need for improved water resilience

The European Environmental Agency (EEA) published on 15 October 2024 its report ‘Europe's state of water 2024: the need for improved water resilience’. Our reaction to the report is here, with EurEau Secretary General, Oliver Loebel, saying the report is a “clear warning call to the EU institutions: our water resources are in grave danger. Urgent action is needed at all levels now.”

Water Scarcity

The CIS ATG Water scarcity and Droughts (WS&D) met on 2-3 October in Brussels. This was the last meeting of the ATG. From now on, it transforms into a permanent CIS Working Group, with 3 priorities for its 2025-2027 mandate:

• Water efficiency & security: focusing on what is water efficiency, security (meaning  availability of water) and additional water supply sources
• Drought management policies: review of the CIS Technical Report 23/2008 on Drought Management Plans
• Better data & indicators: set an Indicator Expert Group, update of the CIS Technical Document on WS&D indicators, development of drought indicators and water scarcity indicators (WEI+, water abstraction index, water stress)

The first meeting of the WG WS&D will be on 24-25 March 2025.

Water4All 2024 Joint Transnational Call

Water4All opened the ‘Water for Circular Economy’ Joint Call for implementation of global, EU and national water management policies. Read more.

European Biosolids Observatory

The Observatory’s Steering Committee met in October. UWWTPs willing to take part in the Observatory should contact Gari as soon as possible.

Events

20-21 November 2024 - ResNRJwater project, 3rd partner meeting. Den Helder, The Netherlands. Register.

28 November 2024 – Blue Planet Berlin Water Dialogues - Urban Water Resilience| 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM CET | Online | in English. More.

9 December 2024 - EESC - European Consumer Day 2024 - water challenges: exploring consumer perspective - moving ahead on the EU Blue Deal.