Europe's Water Resilience Strategy: 10 percent more efficient by 2030

The Commission adopted the European Water Resilience Strategy in June 2025, with a goal that the EU improves water efficiency by at least 10 percent by 2030. A Commission Recommendation of 4 June 2025 sets out the "efficiency first" principle; Member States set their own national targets, and a joint methodology follows in 2026 and 2027.

The reasons are practical. Water scarcity already affects around 30 percent of Europe's land area, industry accounts for about a quarter of EU water use, and losses from distribution networks range from 8 percent to 57 percent depending on the country. More than 15 billion euro is planned for water investments from 2025 to 2027, including a new European Investment Bank programme.

Delivery is now visible. In September 2026 the Commission launched the Water Resilience Stakeholder Platform and the European Water Academy, and a Water Smart Industrial Alliance, an action plan on digitalisation of the water sector and a research and innovation strategy are scheduled. The strategy also supports water reuse and industrial symbiosis, where one site's treated effluent becomes another's process water.

For a factory or utility, the most direct route to the target is to treat and reuse what it already has. Davey Products builds effluent recycling, MBR and zero liquid discharge plants, and Theway Membranes supplies the UF, MBR and RO elements, delivered in the EU through VDT Europa.

Supplied in Europe

In the European Union, Davey Group equipment is supplied, contracted and supported by VDT Europa OÜ in Tallinn, Estonia. Contact contact@vdteuropa.com.

Sources: European Commission, European Water Resilience Strategy (June 2025) and its actions tracker; Commission Recommendation on water efficiency (4 June 2025).