This page tracks the progress made in the implementation of the main actions foreseen in the European Water Resilience Strategy.
The Strategy sets out a pathway to make Europe water resilient. This entails protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems, striking a fair balance between water supply and water demand, and guaranteeing access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation. This is firmly rooted in the 2050 vision put forward by the EU at the 2023 UN Water Conference for a water resilient EU, that ensures water security for all.
To guide Europe to water resilience, the Strategy sets out three main objectives, taking into account the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of water.The Strategy outlines five priority areas, within which more than 50 concrete actions are planned to achieve its objectives.
The Strategy also strengthens EU global cooperation to promote peace.
• Restoring and protecting the water cycle as basis for sustainable water supply.
• Building a water-smart economy together with citizens and economic actors in a way that supports EU competitiveness, is attractive to investors and supports a thriving EU water industry.
• Securing clean and affordable water and sanitation for all at all times, and empowering citizens for water resilience.
• Governance and implementation to boost change.
• Finance, investments and infrastructure to achieve a stable supply.
• Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence to accelerate and simplify sound water management.
• Research and innovation, water industry and skills to strengthen competitiveness.
• Security and preparedness to boost collective resilience.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025-2026
Summary: Building on the findings of its latest assessment of the national plans and on its EU-wide and country-specific recommendations, the Commission will step up enforcement.
It will launch Structured Dialogues with Member States to work jointly towards a reinforced implementation of the broader EU water acquis.
Update: The Structured Dialogues will consist of two technical meetings, followed by a political meeting at Commissioner-Minister level. The Dialogues will proceed in batches of Member States, with the first technical meetings with the first batch of Member States scheduled for Q4 2025.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2027
Summary: The 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive’s goal of achieving good environmental status for marine waters by 2020 was not met. Marine biodiversity is declining, and pollution from rivers continues to harm marine life. Following a recent evaluation, the Commission will revise the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to improve coherence with the EU freshwater acquis, focusing on delivering results by reducing reporting requirements, and improving data management and governance across the Regional Seas Conventions.
The revision of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive will also lead to significant simplification.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: To further support the work of Member States in addressing water scarcity and droughts, the Commission will develop indicators for water scarcity and publish a Technical Guidance on Drought Management Plans.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2027
Summary: Urgent action is needed to tackle pollutants which pose a risk to our vital sources of drinking water. If partners are found which are willing to invest alongside the EU, the Commission will put forward a proposal to establish a public-private initiative to achieve a technological breakthrough in feasible and affordable methods for the detection and remediation of PFAS and other persistent chemicals.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: The Commission will assist Member States in assessing the tailored nutrient loads reductions that are needed to reach the environmental objectives, including through enhanced modelling, interactive maps and exchanges of best practices.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: The Sponge Facility aims to better coordinate and scale up new and existing initiatives aimed at increasing natural water retention on land, as an integral part of the Water Resilience Strategy’s overarching objective to restore and protect the water cycle from source to sea.
The expected impact of the facility will be to contribute to the increased confidence in, and uptake of, sponge measures in Europe, through documentation of best practices and their multiple benefits to society.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025-2026
Summary: Water efficiency is key and must come first. This Strategy is accompanied by a Recommendation on the application of the water efficiency first principle, inspired by experience with the energy efficiency first principle. It sets out guiding principles for decision-making and investments based on a clear and predictable, yet flexible, prioritisation in the way water demand and supply are managed. Across the EU, the priority should be to curb demand and over-abstractions. This should be followed by efficiency by design and reuse, while increased supply should be the last resort option.
Update: The Recommendation was published together with the Communication on 4 June 2025 (EUR-Lex - 32025H1179 - EN - EUR-Lex). The EEA briefing on Water savings for a water-resilient Europe was published on the same day as the Communication and the Recommendation on 4 June 2025 (Water savings for a water-resilient Europe).
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: To guide action on water efficiency across the EU, in view of the potential for water savings, the EU should aim to enhance water efficiency by at least 10% by 2030. The Commission will work with Member States and stakeholders to develop a joint methodology for water efficiency targets, taking into account territorial and other differences between countries, regions and sectors. On that basis, in the review of this strategy in 2027, the Commission intends to develop common benchmarks. Some Member States have already set specific targets to enhance water efficiency at national, regional or river basin level.38 Member States are encouraged to set their own targets for water efficiency, based on their national circumstances.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2028
Summary: Safe water reuse in agriculture, energy production, industrial processes must be at the heart of integrated water management. Currently, only 2.4% of wastewater is reused in the EU, with major differences between Member States, ranging from zero to 80% . The Commission will support Member States through guidance on the safe reuse of water, as well as via capacity building in the context of implementing existing legislation. By June 2028, the Commission will evaluate the Water Reuse Regulation, and will subsequently consider extending its scope pending evaluation results.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025-2026
Summary: Water efficient energy production can make a major contribution to water resilience. 17% of the EU’s total water consumption is used as a feedstock or cooling agent. If the right partners willing to invest alongside the EU are found, the Commission will put forward a proposal to establish a public-private initiative to achieve a technological breakthrough in feasible and affordable methods for dry cooling.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025-2027
Summary: Consumers play an essential role in enhancing water resilience. Next to the well-established EU Ecolabel, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) will help consumers reduce water consumption by choosing less polluting, more water-efficient products. This should shift demand towards water-smart products, boosting the EU's clean and circular competitiveness. New private initiatives, like the Unified Water Label, are emerging to rate the water efficiency of products.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: When it comes to water use in housing and city planning, saving energy and saving water should always go hand in hand. The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which supports energy efficiency including hot water efficiency as one of its objectives, and the New European Bauhaus provide significant opportunities to boost efforts towards water resilience across the built environment, while enhancing users and citizens’ involvement and the sharing of best practices on water resilient design planning and concepts. This will be reflected in the upcoming work programme 2026-2027 of the New European Bauhaus Facility, and in the upcoming Affordable Housing Plan, which will also consider sustainability of housing, including water resilience.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2027
Summary: Water-smart spatial planning must guide a sustainable deployment of the green and digital transition. The Commission will enhance existing visualisation tools putting together environmental data with data related to the water and energy grids. The aim is to inform Member States’ spatial planning decisions by helping them identify the best areas for setting up water-intensive business operations and at the same attract investors to carry out nature restoration and modernisation of water supply networks to support these businesses.
Status: in progress
Timeline: As from 2025
Summary: As from December 2025, the Commission will convene, every two years, a Water Resilience Forum, bringing together in an inclusive dialogue of EU stakeholders and interested parties to take stock of progress made in enhancing water resilience across all levels of government, business and civil society, and monitoring implementation of this Strategy.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025
Summary: The Commission is enhancing its cooperation with the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) to step up public and private investments in the area of water, both in the EU and globally. The EIB Group, already today the largest global financier in the water sector, has developed a Water Programme to support the Commission's Water Resilience Strategy with over EUR 15 billion in planned financing during 2025-2027 for projects enhancing access to water, pollution control, resilience and competitiveness of the EU water sector, including through large infrastructures and nature-based solutions.
Furthermore, the Commission and the European Investment Bank will join forces to address bottlenecks for deploying water investments. This will include the proposal of a new Sustainable Water Advisory Facility to finance EIB technical assistance in building the pipeline of projects as well as better quantifying funding needs and options to facilitate water investment.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: The Commission will establish a Water Resilience Investment Accelerator to implement 20 pilot innovative cases for natural water retention and water efficiency, bringing together local water investors, solution providers and problem holders to inspire similar actions across the EU. This could also build on the networks of Living Labs established e.g. in 15 European Partnerships and Missions.
Status: in progress
Timeline: to be determined
Summary: Under development.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2027
Summary: By 2030, restoration measures will be put in place on at least 30% of the EU’s coastal and freshwater habitats that are not in good condition (Nature Restoration Regulation). The Commission will encourage Member States to cooperate in a Green and Blue Corridors initiative to support the restoration of ecological settings and infrastructure including rivers, wetlands, and coasts.
Status: completed
Timeline: 2025
Summary: Private investment will need to be significantly stepped up. Cooperation with financial institutions can leverage more private financing into water resilience through blended finance approaches, innovative models such as Water as a Service and structured ecosystems for Green and Blue Bonds. Rewarding ecosystem services schemes have the potential to also support the creation of the necessary markets.
The Commission adopted a Roadmap for Nature Credits to tap the potential of these instruments and incentivise the scale-up of these markets.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2025-2030
Summary: Digital models being developed by Commission such as the Digital Twin of the Ocean and Destination Earth will support the assessment long-term water conditions and availability under various climate change or human activities scenarios. Such capabilities can become available to national and local administrations before 2030.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: To unleash the largely untapped potential of digitalisation, and building on the upcoming Communications on Data Union and on Apply AI, the Commission will adopt an Action Plan targeted to face the specific challenges of the water sector such as analogue and aging systems, very large data sets scattered in many different repositories. It will include two main pillars: i) deployment of digital solutions through funding and knowledge-sharing to build up digital skills and encourage technology transfer in the water sector; and ii) support to water data sharing by fostering the development of national data portals to overcome fragmentation and make data easily findable, accessible free of charge, interoperable, and reusable, in line with the requirements of the Open Data Directive.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: While Earth Observation has been used for decades to forecast droughts and floods, its daily use for water management is much less widespread. Copernicus and its six specialized services provide an extensive portfolio of water-related products available on a full, free and open basis. Yet, this information is scattered.
The Commission will establish a “one-stop shop” for Earth Observation products relevant to water management – a Water Thematic Hub – in order to bring together Copernicus water-related data, products, and tools, and facilitate access and use of these data. It will foster collaboration between the Earth Observation and water management communities, in partnership with the Joint Research Centre’s Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation, ensuring that Copernicus products respond to the needs of users and policy makers.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: Despite a strong knowledge base, gaps remain in understanding European fresh and marine waters, water resource availability, climate changes, and the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus. Effective use of EU research funds can help bring innovative technologies to market and support SMEs. Building on the cutting-edge research under EU Missions Restore our Oceans and Waters and Adaptation to Climate Change, the Commission will adopt, by the end of 2026, a Water Resilience R&I Strategy addressing the fragmentation of EU R&I initiatives.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: The Commission will launch a Water Smart Industrial Alliance to support its consolidation by stimulating innovation, competitiveness and securing the necessary water skills. Furthermore, in line with the Clean Industrial Deal the Commission will explore how public procurement can promote water resilience considerations in relevant public tenders and a simplified market access for SMEs to help them untap their innovation potential.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026-2027
Summary: The Commission will launch a European Water Academy to address capacity needs in Europe’s water sector, fostering public-private partnerships, innovation, and technology transfer to fill skill gaps.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: To boost Europe’s competitiveness in the water field by spurring innovation and closing the skills and knowledge gaps, we need to create more synergies and connect industry, education and research with a source-to-sea approach. This is why the Commission will launch, in 2026, a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in Water, Marine and Maritime Sectors and Ecosystems under the European Institute of Technology (EIT).
Status: in progress
Timeline: to be determined
Summary: Under development.
Status: in progress
Timeline: 2026
Summary: In the Political Guidelines 2024-2029 for the European Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Climate Adaptation Plan (ECAP) to support the Member States on preparedness and resilience planning. Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has taken the lead in the work on ECAP, and the policy package will be presented during the 2nd half of 2026.
Status: in progress
Timeline: As from 2025
Summary: Through its actions under the Global Gateway Strategy, the EU will contribute to protecting and restoring the global water cycle, building a water smart economy and ensuring water security for all, in line with the EU level objectives of the Water Resilience Strategy and the Pact for the Future.
Status: in progress
Timeline: As from 2025
Summary: The EU will strengthen country and regional partnerships on water. This includes the Union for the Mediterranean Water Agenda 2030 and the upcoming New Pact for the Mediterranean, to address increasing water scarcity and climate impacts in the region.