Tackling Europe´s water problems requires new ways of governance

Water has been poised to be the next crisis for Europe. Devastating droughts and floods have caused significant economic, social and environmental damages and are expected to be further exacerbated with climate change. Aquatic ecosystems continue to be severely affected by pollution and hydromorphological changes. While water scarcity has pushed several European countries to restrict water use, leakages and losses from drinking water systems are on average as high as 25%.

Water problems are problems of governance

Behind all these water problems lay governance challenges. While technical solutions and regulatory frameworks are in place, their implementation is lacking.

New solutions are needed to improve public policy integration, coherence and coordination. Active participation and collaboration of both water using sectors and citizens throughout the policy landscape is required, from problem analysis to planning and evaluation. A special emphasis needs to be put on the appropriate valuation of water, including water rights and allocation mechanism and economic and financial schemes. Decision making needs to be built on robust data and knowledge sharing systems, also enabling holding the different stakeholders accountable for their actions.

New ways of water governance in focus in 17 sites across 13 countries

A cluster of three new research and innovation projects funded under the Horizon Europe programme by the European Commission seeks to tackle Europe’s water challenges through the development, assessment, and validation of good practices in the afore mentioned fields.

Innovative mechanisms and approaches to enhance water governance are put into test in 17 different locations across the continent in 13 EU Member States, ranging from agricultural regions to urban areas and local catchments to national level experience sharing.

The cases cover a wide range of issues, including water allocation and reconciling competing needs in Germany, Hungary, Malta and Spain; water markets and tariffs in France, pricing mechanisms in Belgium and corporate water stewardship and blended financing in Finland; water quality monitoring and management in the Netherlands and the UK; integrated water and soil management in Slovakia and ecosystem services and environmental restoration in Italy and Romania; and sustainable hydropower in Finland and Sweden.

Project details

Governance innovations for a transition to sustainable and equitable water use in Europe (GOVAQUA)

• Member States in focus: Finland, France, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the UK
• Contact: Coordinator Suvi Sojamo, Finnish Environment Institute suvi.sojamo@syke.fi, Tel. +358 29 525 1049

Promoting social innovation to renew multi-level and cross sector water governance (InnWater)

• Member States in focus: France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, the UK
• Contact: Coordinator Natacha Amorsi, International Office for Water, n.amorsi@oieau.fr, Tel. +33 5 55 11 47 88

Resilient Water Governance Under Climate Change Within the WEFE NEXUS (RETOUCH NEXUS)

• Member states in focus: Belgium, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain
• Contact: Coordinator Maria Vrachioli, Technical University of Munich, maria.vrachioli@tum.de, Tel. +49 8161 71 6320