Digitalisation in the Water Sector

Recommendations for Policy Developments at EU Level

Publication: Policy Brief
Citation: Ulf Stein et al. 2022: Digitalisation in the water sector: Recommendations for policy developments at EU level. Publications Office o f the European Union, 2022, doi: 10.2848/915867.

Water is vital for the adequate functioning of ecological, social and economic systems. Digital solutions and innovations can contribute to sustainable and cost-efficient water management that can tackle challenges such as climate change, pollution and depletion of water resources and cyber threats. At the same time, digital environmental data can make water policies more tangible, understandable, and widely accepted.

A policy brief covering these topics was prepared by Dr. Ulf Stein and Benedict Bueb from Ecologic Institute together with other European experts was published by the European Commission. It provides an overview of current gaps in the EU legislative framework that hinder the realization of the benefits of digitalisation in the water sector and offers concrete recommendations on how to overcome them.

The publication has attracted considerable interest from practitioners and researchers working on digitization in the water sector. Benedict Bueb introduced the policy brief on 8 November 2022 at the Ecomondo in Rimini. On 18 November 2022, Ulf Stein presented it at the Digital Water City Conference "Digitalising urban waters: Lessons learnt from Berlin, Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and Sofia" on 13 November 2022 in Paris, and on 1 December 2022 at the Digital Water Summit of the International Water Association in Bilbao that was attended by more than 300 delegates from the water industry.

Digitalisation of the European Water Sector to Foster the Green and Digital Transitions

Year 2023

Publication:Article

This article written by Dr. Ulf Stein and Benedict Bueb from Ecologic Institute together with researchers of the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAE) presents insights of two case studies, in Paris and Berlin, which investigated the potential of two mobile applications to make urban water management visible to the public and thus increase awareness about certain water management aspects.

Making Urban Water Management Tangible for the Public by Means of Digital Solutions

Year 2023

Presentation:Chairing

The World Water Day, was introduced by the United Nations in 1992 to remind people of water as an essential resource for life. For this year's theme "Groundwater – making the invisible visible", Ecologic Institute co-organized a webinar to present an augmented reality app that was developed as part of the project Digital Water City (DWC). The webinar was moderated by Alexander Sperlich (BWB) and Dr. Ulf Stein (Ecologic Institute).

Making Groundwater Visible

22 March 2022
Dr. Ulf Stein

Publication:Report

In this publication, Doris Knoblauch (Ecologic Institute), Lorenzo Felicetti, and Ulf Stein (Ecologic Institute) shed light on the untapped potential of ICT solutions in water management across Berlin, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris and Sofia, the five cities analysed in the project digital-water.city. In the analysis, the cross-cutting nature of digital water governance, and thereby its multifunctionality in terms of policy goals became evident.

Policy Matrix – Screening of Digital, Data and Water Policies

Starting points for untapped potential of ICT solutions in water management

Year 2020

Project:Horizon 2020

European cities face major challenges to achieve the desired level of sustainability in the management of urban water systems. Digital technologies such as mobile devices, sensor network, real-time monitoring, machine learning, and modeling tools have the potential to improve the management of water infrastructures significantly. In addition, they can improve the quality of services provided to citizens as well as awareness and cooperation between utilities, public authorities, and citizens in urban water management. The main objective of the project is to boost the integrated management of water systems in five major European cities, Berlin, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris, and Sofia, by leveraging the potential of data and smart digital technologies.

Digital Water City – Leading urban water management to its digital future (DWC)

Jun 2019 - Nov 2022

Language

English

Authorship

Dr. Ulf Stein

Benedict Bueb

Andreas Englund, Richard Elelman, Natacha Amorsi, Francesca Lombardo, Aitor Corchero, Anna Brékine, Fernando Lopez Aquillar, Michele Ferri

Credits

Co-authors: Alberto Abella Garcia, Juan Manuel Fernández Montenegro, Albert Chen, Anastasia Moumtzidou, Dirk Vries, Nicolas Caradot, Rita Ugarelli, Audun Vennesland, Massimiliano Sgroi, Violeta Kuzmickaite (REA), Evdokia Achilleos (REA), Sotirios Kanellopoulos (REA), Alexandre Vacher (REA)

Acknowledgements: This policy brief benefitted greatly from the developed and tested 38 digital solutions in 21 case studies, and the input of a number of experts from five DigitalWater2020 synergy group projects – DWC, ScoreWater, Fiware4Water, NAIADES, aqua3S. All projects are the members of the ICT4Water cluster.

Funding

European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International

European Commission, Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), International

Published by

Publications Office of the European Union (Publications Office), International

Year

2022

Dimension

25 pp.

ISBN

978-92-95080-52-2

DOI

10.2848/915867

Project

Digital Water City – Leading urban water management to its digital future (DWC)

Project ID

Table of contents

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Keywords

Digitalization

Water

big data, cloud computing, digital transformation, digitisation, directive (EU), environmental standard, EU environmental policy, EU policy, European citizens' initiative, information security, policymaking, recommendation (EU), services contract, social situation, sustainable development, water management

Europe