Aqua Publica Europea contributed to the 7th Meeting of the European Commission’s Ad-hoc Task Group on Water Scarcity and Droughts, held on October 2–3. On this occasion, we had the pleasure of convening a panel discussion on Water Resilience Strategies.
The panel featured four speakers, each representing diverse local realities from Athens, Catalonia, Malta, and Flanders, who shared their experiences and challenges in enhancing water resilience. Moderated by our Executive Director, the engaging discussion covered various topics, including:
➡ Louise Vanysacker, Manager of R&D at De Watergroep (Belgium), discussed the challenges of water availability in Flanders and presented the Flemish strategy for water security. She highlighted several initiatives, from regional interconnections to innovative projects on aquifer recharge and water reuse. Vanysacker noted that current water legislation is not fully prepared (particularly standards) to support all potential interventions, emphasising the need to address regulatory gaps and reduce uncertainty.
➡ Jordi Molist Gazapo, Director of Water Supply at the Catalan Water Agency (Spain), outlined the agency’s response to a prolonged drought, including measures such as potable water reuse, desalination, efficiency improvements, and restriction policies based on drought severity. These form the core of Catalonia’s water strategy. In terms of challenges, Molist Gazapo emphasised that the EIB should be enabled to finance desalination projects. He also suggested that future legislation on potable reuse should focus on drinking water quality parameters rather than treatment processes and highlighted the importance of balancing ecological flows with maintaining minimum reservoir levels.
➡ Giorgos Sachinis, Director of Strategy and Innovation at EYDAP (Greece), presented a comprehensive master plan for the Attica region. His discussion covered various strategies, including potable water resource recharge through aquifers and aqueducts, reclaimed water use from wastewater treatment plants for non-potable purposes, sewer mining for non-potable water reuse, and stormwater reuse. Sachinis noted significant challenges, particularly the need for appropriate water pricing to encourage efficiency and the importance of closing the financing gap.
➡ Manuel Sapiano, CEO of Malta’s Energy and Water Agency (EWA), outlined Malta’s two-pronged strategy focusing on demand management across all water uses and supply diversification. He highlighted desalination and water reuse in agriculture as central to this approach, emphasizing the importance of non-conventional water sources to meet long-term demand. Sapiano underscored that resilience strategies should consider not only today’s Europe but also the Europe of the future.
The engaging discussion that followed the panel covered a range of topics, including the role of Nature-based Solutions, the importance of interconnections, the expanded use of non-conventional water resources and enabling factors, and the critical role of finance.
