Industrial and technological approaches and best practices supporting a water resilient society

The EESC:

• calls for a stand-alone strategy – an EU Blue Deal - and for an action plan on water to ensure water resilience, security and sustainability, complementing the EU Green Deal;
• urges the EU to integrate water in a revised industrial strategic framework and in the transition pathways with a sectoral approach;
• notes that this revision should explore the idea of establishing a new industrial deal to offer European industry a consolidated strategy that responds to the multiple challenges it faces (on water, energy, critical raw materials, digitalisation and strategic autonomy) within four years;
• stresses that industrial and technological approaches supporting a water-smart society must be firmly structured around a comprehensive sustainable water management policy for industry based on reducing, reusing and recycling water, decreasing pollution and including the incremental introduction and use of water-efficient technologies, whilst ensuring a just transition that safeguards industrial competitiveness;
• underlines the need for a European water data management ecosystem, as well as the need to measure water consumption throughout production processes and minimise the use of drinking water for industrial purposes;
• highlights the need to ensure water access for the most critical industries during crisis situations;
• calls for a transitional pathway to develop the clean and water-efficient tech sector, including a human dimension roadmap to ensure the availability of the required skills, quality jobs and decent working conditions;
• proposes measures supporting the implementation of the EU Blue Deal transition fund in the industrial field;
• supports the creation of the water knowledge and innovation community (KIC) by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).