From interconnected drinking-water networks and new reservoirs to flood protection, water reuse and technologies that capture humidity from the air, EPP local and regional leaders meeting in Mikulov showcased how Europe’s water-resilience ambitions are already being translated into practical solutions on the ground.
Meeting under the theme “Shared Water, Shared Future”, EPP-CoR members stressed that Europe’s regions face very different water realities. Building resilience therefore requires investment and cooperation at European level, while giving cities and regions the flexibility to develop solutions adapted to their territories.
Connecting water networks in South Moravia
Host Jan Zámečník, Deputy-Governor of the South Moravian Region, presented his region’s work to build a more resilient and interconnected drinking-water network. South Moravia’s two principal water sources are located outside the region, while around 650,000 people in the Brno metropolitan area depend on the system. Supported by EU funding and detailed hydrogeological mapping, the region is progressively connecting water-supply systems across regional borders. The objective is to move away from fragmented reliance on individual wells towards a robust network capable of maintaining supplies during periods of drought.
Piedmont: retaining water when it is available
For Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont Region, the challenge is retaining more of the water that already passes through the territory. Piedmont — literally “at the foot of the mountains” — receives water from its mountains and winter snowfall, but much of it ultimately flows towards the sea. Cirio stressed the importance of dams and reservoirs to capture and store this resource for periods of scarcity.
Piedmont already has the highest number of dams and reservoirs among Italian regions, but Cirio argued that additional strategic infrastructure is needed, backed by European investment and significantly faster authorisation procedures.
Gdańsk: preparing for both floods and drought
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, explained how two major flash floods transformed her city’s approach to water.
Gdańsk’s retention capacity has increased from around 152,000 m³ to approximately 760,000 m³ and is expected to approach one million m³. Over the past two decades, the city has completed around 60 major flood-mitigation investments worth approximately €155 million, including around €100 million from EU funds.
Alongside traditional “grey” infrastructure, Gdańsk is investing in green retention and a major educational programme encouraging residents to contribute through measures such as rain gardens, helping capture water during heavy rainfall and preserve it for increasingly frequent dry periods.
Eastern Region in Malta: capturing humidity and reusing water
After 118 consecutive days without rainfall this summer, Anthony Chircop, President of Malta’s Eastern Region, highlighted how Mediterranean territories are being pushed to innovate.
Through an Interreg project involving Mediterranean islands and regions, partners are exploring technology capable of capturing humidity from the air and converting it into water for storage and use in public gardens.
Chircop also called for new mega-developments to incorporate water-saving systems, grey-water treatment and reuse as part of their planning obligations. At the same time, Malta needs sufficient reservoir capacity to capture increasingly intense rainfall before it runs off into the sea.
Lisbon: tackling floods while reusing water
Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon and EPP-CoR member, highlighted Lisbon’s efforts to tackle flooding and water waste simultaneously.
The city is constructing two major tunnels to protect its centre from flooding, combined with reservoirs allowing water to be stored and reused. Lisbon is also developing its Water Plus system to reduce the use of drinking-quality water for activities such as street cleaning and watering gardens.
Moedas stressed that cities and regions must be at the centre of water innovation, including through better use of digitalisation, interoperable data and new technologies.
Fixing the water Europe already loses
But building new infrastructure is only part of the challenge. Franck Proust drew attention to the enormous quantities of water already being lost through ageing distribution networks, warning that in some cases around 30% of water flowing through networks can simply be lost through leakage.
While Europe strongly supports innovation, Proust argued that it must also help cities and regions finance the less visible but essential task of renovating existing water networks. Reducing leakage, he stressed, should be one of the first steps towards saving water.
Reindustrialisation must learn from the past
Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Łódź, linked water resilience to the debate about Europe’s future industrial policy.
Łódź developed as a major textile centre thanks partly to its water resources, but intensive industrial use heavily exploited its surface water and depleted much of its natural water system. The city has also been affected by a nearby open-cast mine, which created a large groundwater depression cone.
Today, with European funding, Łódź is working to reverse some of this damage by renaturalising its rivers, including bringing waterways currently channelled beneath the city back to the surface to create natural reservoirs and strengthen rainfall retention. “A city that originally grew because of water is today a city experiencing hydrological drought,” Zdanowska said, calling for Europe’s future reindustrialisation to be pursued in a responsible and sustainable way.
Should major water users contribute more?
The pressures created by new economic activities were raised by Mathieu Cuip, Regional Councillor of the Île-de-France Region. Île-de-France already faces growing pressure on its water resources while concentrating around 70% of France’s data centre projects, with a further 200–250 data centres expected in the coming years.
Cuip questioned whether very large water consumers, including data centres, should contribute to financing the resilience of the infrastructure and territories that host them. With investment needed to modernise networks, increase water reuse and develop alternative resources, he stressed that Europe’s digital development must go hand in hand with the resilience of its regions.
When legislation meets local reality
Marie-Hélène Herry, Mayor of Saint-Malo-de-Beignon, warned that European water legislation must be carefully designed to avoid unintended consequences for local communities.
She highlighted a pond at the heart of tourism and economic activity in her municipality. Following a court interpretation of a European directive, the stream feeding the pond must be diverted around it, potentially leaving the pond without sufficient water during the summer tourism season.
The required works, including dredging, are estimated at around €1 million. Herry also pointed to a funding imbalance: removing the pond entirely could receive 100% public support, while an alternative solution preserving the pond and potentially improving its ecological quality does not benefit from equivalent support. Her example underlined the need for practical and proportionate rules that take local economic, environmental and territorial realities into account.
Managing water across Europe’s borders
Theodoros Markopoulos, Regional Councillor of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, highlighted another dimension: managing water resources that cross both internal and external EU borders.
While his region cooperates with Bulgaria on shared rivers, the Evros River also forms part of the EU’s external border with Türkiye. Markopoulos stressed that particular attention must therefore be given to transboundary water management with non-EU countries.
He also highlighted the competing seasonal demands placed on the same water resources: whether water should be used to generate electricity during winter or retained for agricultural irrigation during summer, while tourism can dramatically increase seasonal demand.
For Markopoulos, water resilience therefore requires long-term planning that balances energy, agriculture, tourism and security of supply, alongside stronger cooperation with Europe’s neighbours.
Local solutions for a shared European challenge
The examples presented in Mikulov demonstrated that Europe’s water challenge takes many forms: too little water, too much water, ageing networks, competing industrial demands, cross-border resources and legislation that does not always reflect territorial realities.
The common message was that there can be no one-size-fits-all solution. Europe must invest in strategic infrastructure, maintain and modernise existing networks, enable innovation and water reuse, improve cross-border cooperation and ensure that legislation gives cities and regions the tools to respond to their particular challenges.
Shared water requires shared responsibility — but solutions start locally.