EurEau News
Report: Europe’s Water in Figures
Europe’s water services continue to deliver safe, affordable drinking water and wastewater services to millions of citizens every day. The latest edition of Europe’s Water in Figures shows that 97% of Europeans are connected to drinking water services and around 90% to wastewater collection and treatment.
The report also highlights growing challenges, including ageing infrastructure, climate change, PFAS pollution and rising costs. While the sector is becoming more efficient, sustained investment and stronger pollution prevention measures are needed to ensure resilient, affordable water services for future generations.
Read the full report and discover the latest data on Europe’s water sector, as well as our snapshot of Europe’s water in 2025.
Speaking out
On 2 June, Oliver Loebel, EurEau Secretary General, spoke at the online ChemSec event “Why highly persistent chemicals are always a hazard”.
On 4 June, Gari Villa-Landa, EurEau Senior Policy Advisor, spoke at the DAQUAS Congress 2026 (3-5 June, Madrid, Spain) highlighting the role and the value of EurEau.
On 8 June, Gari and Paula Lindell (EurEau Wastewater Committee Co-Chair) intervened at the ESPP workshop on the delegated act on phosphorus reuse and recycling from urban wastewater and sludge under the recast UWWTD, held in Madrid.
On 11 June, Oliver presented at the event “Local and regional governance responses to emerging contaminants: implementation, monitoring and policy coordination” hosted by the Committee of the Regions.
On 17 June, Oliver and Gesche Grützmacher (EurEau Drinking Water Co-Chair) intervened at the 5th Symposium on Drinking Water Contact Materials, co-hosted by EurEau, European Metals and the European Drinking Water alliance (EDW). DANVA expert Carsten Vejergang also moderated a roundtable discussion on behalf of EurEau at the event.
On 24 June, Sébastien Mouret, EurEau Policy Advisor, spoke against reopening the Water Framework Directive at a breakfast meeting organised by Living Rivers Europe.
EU news
Water legislation
WFD: France, Spain and others oppose revision
In the Environment Council on 25 June, France announced it would submit a non-paper opposing any reopening of the Water Framework Directive. Denmark, Spain and Hungary support the French position, arguing that the current WFD already has enough flexibility to allow strategic mining projects in the EU.
Read more here.
Recast UWWTD: European Parliament adopts “stop-the-clock” for EPR and quaternary treatment
Despite our urging to MEPs to support the implementation of EPR and the recast UWWTD as adopted in 2024, the European Parliament (18 June) requested the European Commission to carry out a new impact assessment by the end of 2026. This assessment is to identify the list of substances present in urban wastewater, check the costs of quaternary treatment and the attribution of costs between relevant sectors under the polluter pays principle, and to identify the potential impact on the availability, affordability and accessibility of medicines.
The MfR included a temporary suspension of the EPR provisions and of the quaternary treatment obligations.
In our reaction to the vote, we encourage the European Commission and Member States to fully implement the recast UWWTD as it was adopted.
Europe’s clean bathing waters show the value of strong water protection
The latest European Bathing Water Report confirms that Europe’s waters remain among the cleanest in the world, with 96% of monitored bathing sites meeting minimum quality standards and 85% achieving an “excellent” rating.
These results demonstrate the value of strong European water legislation and sustained investment in water services deliver real benefits for citizens and the environment. Safe bathing waters do not happen by chance. They are the result of decades of investment, effective legislation and a shared commitment to protecting Europe’s waters.
Read more here.
Water and the environment
PFAS: ECHA recommends new classification for TFA
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) recommends classifying TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) as a substance repro-tox 1B that may be detrimental to preproduction, and as a Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic and very Persistent and very Mobile substance. ECHA warns that TFA can cause very long-lasting and diffuse contamination of water resources.
We see this recommendation as another strong argument to ban all TFA-generating sources quickly, in particular fluorinated gases and pesticides.
It is now the Commission’s decision to include this new TFA-classification in the Classification, Labelling and Packaging regulation.
PFAS: Commissioner Roswall hosts PFAS-related stakeholder dialogue
Harrie Timmer (Vewin, NL) represented EurEau at a stakeholder meeting hosted by Commissioner Roswall on 15 June. The exchange focused on the practical impacts of PFAS pollution, EU action to speed up remediation and substitution, and cooperation among stakeholders.
We welcome this initiative and reiterated our call to the Commission to include not only consumer products but also industrial uses in its PFAS restriction proposals, unless no substitute is available and the use is essential for society.
Circular Economy: Role of water in future EU policy
On 18 June, Commissioner Roswall met stakeholders to discuss circular water, water as carrier of resources, and water as economic factor. The outcome will feed into the drafting process of forthcoming initiatives such as the Circular Economy Act and the evaluation of the Water Reuse Regulation.
While EurEau does not see the need for adding more sectors to the Water Reuse Regulation, we call for a supportive legislative framework to stimulate the recovery of nutrients and other resources from wastewater and sludge.
Industrial Emissions Directive: Council backs chemicals inventories
In its position on parts of the Environmental Omnibus, agreed on 24 June, Member States chose to reinstate the obligation, under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), for industries to keep a chemicals inventory of hazardous substances on their sites. The Commission had proposed to remove this obligation from the Directive.
We welcome the Council’s position on this point, as chemicals inventories provide much-needed traceability for substances of concern, better enabling their control at source.
Water and agriculture
Food and Feed omnibus: Proposed pesticide changes threaten water protection
The two Parliament co-rapporteurs (H. Dorfmann (EPP) and M. Picaro (ECR)) presented their draft report on the Commission proposals to weaken pesticide approval procedures and facilitate aerial spraying.
The draft report suggests even lower requirements than the Commission had proposal. Council adopted its negotiating mandate on parts of the Commission proposals excluding the renewal of pesticide approvals.
We fear that the proposed changes will significantly weaken the protection of drinking water resources and lead to conflicts with the Drinking Water Directive.
Our position is here.
Bio-Economy: EurEau reacts to Call for Evidence on the Biotech II Act
The Commission is preparing a legislative proposal, expected for Q3 2026 and aiming to tap into the potential of EU industrial biotechnology and biomanufacturing.
EurEau submitted a detailed reaction to the Call for Evidence. In particular, we call for the creation of a ‘lead market’ for fertilisers and, consequently, the setting of a minimum share of recovered or ‘low carbon’ nutrient content in fertilisers.
Our reaction is here.
Water as an essential service
Digitalisation: Water services call for proportionate policy framework
The Commission launched a Call for Evidence to support the preparation of the Water Sector Digitalisation Action Plan, expected in Q4 2026.
The Action Plan is an opportunity to promote the uptake of digital tools, but digitalisation cannot be treated as a discretionary IT exercise. In the water services sector, it is part of critical infrastructure stewardship where reliability, safety, security and continuity of water supply and sanitation services remain the primary objectives.
Our response is here.
Data centres: AI economy must not put drinking water supplies at risk
The Commission presented a new framework to support Europe’s cloud and AI ecosystem, and support its growth.
The rapid growth of AI and data centres will place additional pressure on local water resources. We believe the proposal does not go far enough in making local water availability a key criteria when designating special acceleration zones for data centres. We call on the co-legislators to ensure that EU legislation supports technological innovation without putting public drinking water supplies and water security at risk.
INSPIRE Directive: Progress on revised spatial data law
The Environment Council approved its negotiating mandate for INSPIRE.
While Member States support the possibility to limit public access to data sets, including meta data, where such access could adversely affect public security. We supported a more systematic approach to exclude security-relevant parts of critical infrastructures from public access.
Similarly, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee published its draft report (E Wiesner, EPP, SE) and amendments. EurEau supports a number of these proposals that strengthen the protection of critical infrastructures. The plenary vote is provisionally set for 5 October.
The EurEau position is here.
The Council position is here.
The draft ENVI report is here.
The amendments are here.
Other news
Call for Sustainable Water Management projects coming in September
The Water4All Partnership, which funds research and innovation projects related to water, has announced the launch of its next Joint Transnational Call this September. EurEau sits on the Water4All Stakeholder Advisory Board.
You can find preliminary details of the call here, including details for an information webinar scheduled for 17 September. The theme of the 2026 call is “Sustainable Water Management”, with four sub-topics outlined in the call information.
Events
01 July 2026 – German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Environmental Action Germany (DUH) – From Ambition to Impact: Implementing the Nitrates Directive for Europe’s Water Resilience, at 8:30 a.m.at the Thon Hotel EU, Brussels, Belgium. Register here by 27 June 2026.
23-27 August 2026 – World Water Week 2026. Read the thematic scope for 2026.
16-18 September 2026 – Svenskt Vatten hosts the NORDIWA Nordic Drinking Water Conference in Stockholm. You can visit the conference website: NORDIWA: Home.
4-8 October 2026 – IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2026, Glasgow, UK.
18–20 November 2026 – EBC annual benchmarking workshop, Madrid, Spain. www.waterbenchmark.org.
20–22 October 2026 – Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience Europe (CIPRE) 2026; Brussels, Belgium.
29-30 October 2026 – Circular Water Economy Conference 2026; Nicosia, Cyprus