How Europe can make its water sector energy neutral

The new EU Drinking Water Directive could be the tool to reduce water losses, cut energy consumption and deliver better quality of water, writes Mads Warming.

The World Economic Forum lists water crisis amongst the five global risks that will have the biggest impact on society in the next decade. It is estimated that in 2025 one third of the world population lives in water stress and scarcity areas.

Water is too precious to lose. Yet, the water losses and energy consumption in the water sector are extremely high.

The good news is that digitalisation and modern technologies are ready to make the whole water cycle – from water production and distribution to wastewater pumping and treatment – significantly more energy efficient whilst at the same time obtain very low leakage.

And the EU’s new Drinking Water Directive (DWD) could be a first step towards an energy neutral water sector and a sustainable drinking water supply management. Indeed, in the new DWD, the European Commission proposed more transparency on energy performance and water leakage rates. This should be kept throughout the legislative procedure. Citizens should know about their supplier’s energy use and water losses. Both is equally important for the quality of the drinking water and for limiting contamination.

However, there is room for being more ambitious. We can turn the water sector energy neutral and at the same time obtain super low leakage, protecting our precious water resources.