Digitalisation of Europe's water sector gathers pace

The proposed digital action plan, announced in the 2025 water resilience strategy, is aimed to harness digital technologies to modernise and standardise the region’s water management.

The goal is to help increase water efficiency, protect the water cycle and ensure that clean, affordable water remains available by improving the water infrastructure.

Currently the water sector is seen as fragmented with a significant lack of coordination both across different stages of the water cycle, such as drinking water supply and wastewater treatment, and between administrative levels, from municipalities to national and EU authorities.

As a result the sector has been unable to reap the benefits of digitalisation transition, with the problem exacerbated by the lack of harmonised digital standards and guidelines for building an EU digital governance architecture, resulting in uneven development across member states and disparities in water security and service quality.

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Other problems highlighted in the call for evidence are the lack of (near) real time data that can enable water intensive sectors such as agriculture, energy and data centres to optimise their usage, and the high initial investment costs of ICT for water management that are difficult to recover in full, this due in part to low tariffs that often do not reflect the true value of water.

The call for evidence states that EU action to enhance digitalisation could help improve efficiency and reduce opportunity costs in the water sector. As climate change intensifies, traditional monitoring methods will become increasingly inadequate for managing extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and water scarcity.

Without urgent action, Europe’s water management sector risks missing the digitalisation wave, which would result in lost economic potential – Europe’s water technology market has been valued at €111.7 billion per year by Eurostat – and reduced resilience against future water crises.

Modernising the water sector

The action plan aims to address at least four areas to modernise the sector and harness the full potential of digitalisation:

• AI-driven big data analytics to process large water datasets and improve insight, optimisation and predictive capabilities across water management, from abstraction to wastewater treatment for discharge or reuse.
• Large-scale deployment of the IoT, including smart sensors and smart meters to enable more agile water management and increase water efficiency.
• Routine use of Earth observation in water management to reduce the administrative burden, increase spatial and temporal coverage of water monitoring systems, improve cost efficiency and make data available to a broad array of authorities, businesses and individuals.
• Support for a coherent digital framework for monitoring, planning, maintenance and operation across the water sector, while ensuring robust governance, transparent data practices and strong cybersecurity safeguards.

The initiative is expected to have a significant positive impact on the economy, society and the environment.

For example, smart metering can reduce water use by up to 25%, with digital systems saving an additional 5-8% and leak detection reducing consumption by a further 7-14%.

On the social front enhanced monitoring ensures greater data transparency for the public and improves water security, in line with the NIS2 directive on cybersecurity, while efficient real-time data collection and modelling improves the monitoring of water quality, floods, droughts and water scarcity.

A further key goal is to reduce the administrative burden through automated reporting and by maximising synergies between all existing digital tools used for Earth observation.

Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, comments that with the digitalisation action plan on water, the Commission aims to unlock the potential of new technologies and digital solutions that can help to increase water efficiency, reduce leaks and improve how water infrastructure is managed. 

"I look forward to ideas and contributions from experts, innovators and stakeholders across the board to strengthen digitalisation in the water sector.”

The call for evidence is open until 24 June, with the aim to publish the action plan in Q4 of 2026.