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REPORT (2024/2104(INI))

On the European Water Resilience Strategy

A-10-2025-0073

Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Thomas Bajada

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This resolution on the European Water Resilience Strategy calls for a comprehensive EU strategy integrating water quality, quantity, security, infrastructure, technology and management, with restoration of the water cycle as a key element. It demands binding sectoral water efficiency and abstraction targets at basin level, an EU-wide quality standard for PFAS totals in groundwater and surface water, and a dedicated EU fund for water resilience within the next multiannual financial framework. It urges the Commission to present an integrated EU action plan to combat desertification, land degradation and drought, and to address water use by data centres and AI in the strategy. It calls for enhanced cross-border cooperation, including a specific diplomatic role for water conflicts, and for the integration of water resilience into all EU policies.

Committee position. The Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety proposes a resolution outlining a comprehensive European Water Resilience Strategy, calling for binding targets, dedicated funding, and enhanced cooperation.

Key points

  1. Calls for a comprehensive European Water Resilience Strategy that integrates water quality, quantity, security, infrastructure, technology and management, and includes restoration of the water cycle.
  2. Demands a legislative framework setting sectoral water efficiency and abstraction targets at basin level, based on up-to-date assessments of water availability and climate risks.
  3. Calls for an EU-wide quality standard for PFAS totals in groundwater and surface water, and for phasing out PFAS in consumer goods where safe alternatives exist.
  4. Urges the Commission to present an integrated EU action plan to combat desertification, land degradation and drought, aiming for land degradation neutrality by 2030.
  5. Calls for a dedicated EU fund for water resilience within the next multiannual financial framework, and for prioritising water in existing funds.
  6. Urges the Commission to address water use by data centres and AI in the strategy, encouraging reuse of treated water and more efficient chips.
  7. Calls for enhanced cross-border cooperation in managing shared river basins and groundwater, and for a specific EU diplomatic role to resolve water-related conflicts.
  8. Calls for integrating water resilience into all EU policies, including water-related impact assessments of regulatory measures.
  9. Calls for the development of drought management plans in all Member States, with digital monitoring and early warning systems.
  10. Calls for increased funding for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism to improve preparedness for water-related disasters.
  11. Calls for the implementation of water pricing policies that reflect costs and support efficiency, while safeguarding affordability.

Who is affected

  • Member States: must develop drought management plans, implement water pricing, and tackle water leakage.
  • Industry, agriculture, and households: subject to new water efficiency targets and encouraged to adopt water-saving practices.
  • Data centres and AI operators: urged to integrate water efficiency measures and reuse treated water.
  • Pharmaceutical and cosmetic producers: must cover at least 80% of micropollutant removal costs under the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.
  • Women: calls for increased involvement in water resilience decisions and gender-disaggregated monitoring.

Figures and deadlines

  • 23% of treated water lost during distribution in the EU due to leaky pipes.
  • 60-70% of the potential value of wastewater across the EU is currently unexploited.
  • Less than 3% of treated wastewater is reused in the EU.
  • Annual investment needs for water estimated at EUR 77 billion, with a financing gap of around EUR 25 billion a year.
  • 90% of disasters are related to water.
  • 12% of Europe's population lives in floodplains.
  • 74% of Spain's surface area is at risk of desertification.

Legal basis: Article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union