“If there is no data, there is no policy”, an issue often emphasised by the EESC, following its call for an “EU Blue Deal”. It captures the heart of one of Europe’s biggest water management challenges: the chronic lack of reliable data.
For decades, insufficient monitoring of water use has left Member States in the dark about the actual performance of their public supply networks, some of which experience leakage rates ranging from 8% to a staggering 56%. Consumers, too, remain largely excluded from the data loop, lacking the information needed to play an active role in improving water efficiency.
To tackle these challenges, the Water Resilience Strategy marks a clear shift from the previous “WaterWiseEU” campaign launched in 2024, which focused primarily on awareness raising. Instead, it provides Member States with strategic direction for building a “water-smart economy”, placing digitalisation at the core of this transition. By improving both the availability and quality of data, the European Commission aims to modernise water management across the Union, which still too often relies on outdated technology and aging infrastructure.
While the digital technologies needed to transform water management already exist, the Strategy rightfully emphasises that their adoption remains limited and uneven across Member States. Without adequate monitoring of water use, sectoral progress on efficiency is difficult to assess. This represents a concerning shortcoming that should be addressed as a priority by Member States if they are to meet the Commission’s proposed 10% water efficiency target.
A striking example of this gap can be found in the building sector, where a large portion of occupants are not billed according to their own usage and do not receive frequent information on their water consumption, depriving them of the ability to monitor their use or detect leaks.
In this context, we welcome the announcement of an EU-wide Action Plan on “Digitalisation in the Water Sector”, set to be launched in 2026, alongside a dedicated “Smart Water Metering for All” initiative.
Scaling up Smart Water Metering for All across the EU
While this upcoming initiative is not legally binding, deploying smart water meters will support the Water Efficiency First principle in the building sector. Notably, the Guidance emphasises the importance of measures that improve water efficiency, with a focus on sectors offering the highest water-saving potential, and based on a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.
The latest ETC Biodiversity & Ecosystems Report, “Contributions of Water Saving to a Climate Resilient Europe”, highlights that the public water supply sector offers an untapped water efficiency potential of 20% to 50%, while also being the largest or second-largest water abstracting sector in most EU Member States.
Buildings, and especially households, account for the majority of public water use, making it essential to unlock their full efficiency potential as part of achieving a water-resilient Europe. To support this ambition, the Guidance on the Water Efficiency First Principle specifically recommends the deployment of individual water metering at apartment level and encourages the use of smart meters where real-time data reporting enables cost-effective efficiency gains.
This represents a major step in the right direction, which should be properly operationalised by an ambitious Smart Water Metering for All Initiative. This should encompass increased efforts to monitor and support their deployment throughout the EU-27, mirroring the approach adopted for smart electricity meters, for which the deployment progress is being monitored by regular surveys and studies.
The strategy includes a commitment to promoting the exchange of best practices on smart water metering across all economic sectors, with successful deployment strategies that could serve as valuable examples. Several European cities and regions demonstrate this potential through pilot projects that require individual metering in all apartments to maximise their water-saving potential:
- Hamburg, Germany, mandated individual metering for all flats following a study project led in the city during the 1990s. This study found that individual water metering reduced consumption by an average of 15% with conventional meters, and up to 25% when combined with additional water-saving devices.
- In Málaga, Spain, a city-wide “Individual Water Meter Plan” has been launched and goes a step further, requiring the replacement of collective meters with individual ones, as well as the upgrade from analogue to smart meters. Individual metering alone is estimated to reduce water consumption by around 20%.
Similar roll-out plans could be pursued across the EU, in alignment with the implementation of the “Drinking Water Directive”, which requires Member States to provide all consumers with regular information on their water consumption, at least once a year, where technically feasible. In multi-family buildings, however, fulfilling this obligation is only possible if individual metering is in place. The upcoming “Smart Water Metering for All” initiative, scheduled for 2026, provides a timely opportunity to empower all consumers equally, an opportunity Member States should not miss. EVVE and its members are committed to supporting the successful deployment of the initiative.
The effectiveness of the Water Resilience Strategy will depend on how the 50 measures it proposes are implemented and how they complement the objectives set by the EU water acquis. With actions planned until 2029, the question now is: what concrete steps can be taken in the near term to ensure that the strategy continuously delivers on its promises?