The European Water Resilience Strategy introduces an indicative 10% reduction target for water abstraction by 2030 across the EU to guide and monitor action on water efficiency. Its overall goal is to promote water savings, efficiency, and reuse, and ensure fair distribution of water resources while preserving ecosystems.
Water Efficiency First: Setting a New Paradigm for EU Water Management
Although the figure may appear modest, it represents a significant milestone. France, for example, has already adopted a similar goal in its national water plan and other Member States have also developed national water strategies to reduce their abstraction. Unlike water quality, which has long been regulated through EU targets, this new quantitative goal is a welcome start towards reducing water overexploitation. Building on this first EU-level step, the strategy now turns to national implementation.
The efficiency target serves as a common baseline, with Member States encouraged to go further by setting national objectives tailored to their geographic and climatic conditions. To support them, the Commission will develop by 2027 a common target methodology, along with guidelines and benchmarks on how to best reflect regional differences.
Wide disparities between countries suggest that a one-size-fits-all model is not suitable for quantitative water management, as evidenced by the Water Exploitation Index Plus, developed by Eurostat to assess water scarcity conditions across the EU. While many Member States experience some degree of water scarcity, Cyprus, Malta and Romania are among the worst affected, facing chronic stress across their entire territories. In contrast, others face more localised challenges that may not require the same scale of intervention. Efficiency potential also varies across countries and sectors, depending on the measures already implemented and the remaining room for progress, as evidenced by the latest EEA report.
In this context, while lead MEPs had called for a binding EU-wide target, the Commission’s choice to propose an indicative one offers a pragmatic and necessary starting point while allowing frontrunner countries to lead by example.
Delivering on Water Efficiency First
To operationalise the water abstraction target and promote more efficient use of water resources, the Water Resilience Strategy introduces a Water Efficiency First (WEF1st) principle. Drawing inspiration from the Energy Efficiency First (EE1st) principle, it aims to ensure that water-saving potential is systematically considered in policy, planning, and investment decisions. The principle sets a clear hierarchy for action and places priority on measures reducing water demand and abstraction over resorting to costly supply-side solutions such as water reuse, expanding supply infrastructure, or desalination.
Prioritising efficiency as a first response marks an important shift towards a more systemic approach to water management that should be regarded positively and fully implemented by Member States if it is to drive real change. The EU’s experience with the EE1st principle offers valuable lessons that could guide the Commission in supporting national implementation of the WE1st principle.
Although enshrined as a legal obligation in the 2023 revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive, its impact is still difficult to assess since the implementation deadline has not passed yet. However, early observations suggest that regulatory frameworks and public subsidy schemes often fail to incentivise energy savings adequately, as shown by the recent suspension of France’s flagship programme MaPrimeRénov’. Moreover, the concept of Efficiency First has been criticised for its lack of conceptual clarity, particularly regarding how to assess and compare the costs and benefits of saving versus supplying energy.
The Water Resilience Strategy states that Member States will receive support in implementing the WE1st principle through upcoming guidance. To ensure its effectiveness, the Commission must further substantiate the principle by publishing clear methodologies for cost–benefit evaluation and highlighting best practices that demonstrate its practical application across sectors. Special attention should also be given to synergies with other policy areas, particularly with the energy sector, in light of the strong interdependencies between water and energy consumption.
Demand-side investments should prioritise digital tools to improve the efficiency of drinking water distribution, from source to tap, and help reduce overall consumption. Yet, cities facing severe water scarcity tend to opt for supply-side solutions. For example, Barcelona is expanding its desalination capacity, while several French municipalities are investing in water reuse infrastructure, before reducing water leakage or improving water efficiency in buildings. With over 75% of EU residents now living in cities and suburbs, and urban populations expected to grow, future-proofing urban water supply is more urgent than ever.
Any meaningful improvement in water efficiency depends on the availability of frequent, high-quality, and cross-sectoral data on water use; something that only a broad deployment of digital tools, like smart water meters, can provide. In urban areas, this effort must start where the largest share of public water is consumed: at home.
Cover photo by Eduard Delputte.
