Germany is having to manage its water resources under changing conditions. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and more frequent dry periods are lowering groundwater levels and river flows. At the same time, new sources of demand, such as hydrogen production and data centre cooling, are adding pressure. Competing claims from public water supply, agriculture, industry, energy production and ecosystems increase the likelihood of conflicts over allocation. Efficiency gains have already been achieved in some areas, such as reduced leakage in public supply and water recycling in industry. However, irrigated agricultural area has grown considerably, and much irrigation still relies on relatively inefficient methods.

The project supports the German Environment Agency (UBA) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). It contributes to Action 10 of Germany's National Water Strategy, which calls for technical solutions to reduce water use, cross-sector demand management and standards for efficient water use. It also relates to the EU Water Resilience Strategy, which aims to reduce water consumption and increase water efficiency by 2030.

The project has three objectives. It will build a consistent overview of water abstraction, use, efficiency potential and technical solutions in industry (including energy supply), agriculture and public water supply. It will identify and quantify unused potential across the country and examine how the interplay between regulatory, economic, technical and social factors help or hinder the uptake of water-saving measures. The results and emerging policy recommendations are intended to inform discussions on cross-sectoral water demand management and future efficiency standards.

The work is organised into five main work packages:

• Research framework (WP1): Compiles literature, data and definitions on the water efficiency concept, and develops criteria for prioritising sectors and processes.
• Current situation (WP2): Collects water abstraction and use data and assesses the state of the art, including how widely water-saving measures are applied.
• Environmental side effects (WP3): Assesses possible adverse environmental impacts of water-saving measures, like those unfolding through rebound effects, where efficiency gains are cancelled out by misallocation.
• Framework conditions (WP4): Analyses the enabling factors, barriers and interactions that shape implementation, including a spatial comparison of water stress hot spots in up to three study regions.
• Recommendations (WP5): Estimates theoretical savings potential, quantifies three potentials in more detail and derives recommendations for action.

Alongside these packages, three one-day sector workshops (agriculture, public water supply, and industry including energy supply) bring together practitioners, administration, associations and researchers. Their findings feed directly into the analysis.

Ecologic Institute's role

Ecologic Institute leads the project in a consortium with the Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin (KWB). In addition to day-to-day project management and quality assurance, EI is leading work packages 1, 4 and 5 and supporting the work in WP2 and WP3. The Ecologic Institute’s events team is organising the three sector-specific workshops. 
KWB, the consortium partner, leads WP2 and WP3 and contributes to the other work packages.