Eureau Celebrates Anniversary: Marking 50 Years of Protecting Europe’s Water Services

Europe’s water professionals gathered in Brussels to mark 50 years of EurEau striving to protect water services across the continent. The celebrations started with a conference themed on ‘Waterproofing our Future’.

Speaking about the anniversary, Pär Dalhielm, EurEau’s President said ”For 50 years, EurEau has been at the forefront of safeguarding Europe’s water, ensuring that we all have access to clean, safe, sustainable, affordable water services. Our journey has been one of collaboration, innovation, and commitment, working alongside the EU institutions and our partners to secure water for future generations. As we mark this milestone, we reaffirm our dedication to protecting water services and addressing the challenges ahead.”

The conference featured interventions from:

• Trine Christiansen, Head of Department for Freshwater and Marine (acting), at the European Environmental Agency
• Gonzalo Delacámara, Director, Centre for Water & Climate Adaptation, IE University
• Prof. Dr hab. Jerzy Hausner, Economist, and Head of the Department of Public Economy and Administration at Krakow University of Economics
• Lykke Leonardsen, Planner from the City of Copenhagen.

EurEau’s anniversary comes as the Commission is preparing its Water Resilience Strategy, outlining how the EU plans to ensure that water sources are properly managed, scarcity is addressed and how the water services can contribute to a competitive and circular Europe.

As we look to the future, EurEau remains committed to safeguarding Europe’s water services by addressing critical challenges. Knowledge will be key: understanding how much water we will have versus how much we will need. To implement this strategy effectively, we need a robust policy framework and governance model that promotes water efficiency, stimulates innovation and ensures the availability of long-term financing to meet policy targets. Equally important is strong communication from all stakeholders to raise awareness of water as a finite resource, alongside training and upskilling workers to ensure the sustainability of water services everywhere.

EurEau represents 38 national associations of water service providers from 33 countries across Europe. Covering both public and private service providers, we bring sector professionals together to discuss quality, resource efficiency and provide access to water and wastewater services for over 500 million people across Europe. Employing around 470,000 people, we make a significant contribution to the European economy.