EurEau, the organisation which represents the national associations of water services in Europe, has published a new overview of drinking water and waste water service provision by both private and public sectors across Europe.
The 29 member countries across Europe collectively invest €45 billion annually, in over 7 million kilometres of pipes to deliver and treat 45 billion m³ of water. Higher connection rates, more pipes, more network, more investment, better recycling and better environmental protection are among the key headlines on the current state of play in the sector.
Annual amount of revenue collected from the different water services: EurEau
For EurEau member countries, the extrapolated population of 499 million people are connected to a drinking water network, while 450 million inhabitants are connected to a waste water collection network and 435 million people are connected to a waste water treatment plant.
The new report updates EurEau’s first data survey which was carried out in 2009.
Introducing the report, EurEau President Bruno Tisserand said:
“A lot has changed in the intervening eight years; technology is improving, innovation is increasing and consumers are demanding more environmentally sound and cost effective services.”
“What appears to be a simple day-to-day service is in reality the result of complex processes and advanced technologies.”
“The results testify the diversity of the sector. They also show some of the immediate challenges our sector is facing, particularly regarding investment needs.”
The report says that annually, European water services invest approximately €45 billion in water infrastructure - meaning that on average, service providers invest €93.5 per inhabitant per year.
According to EurEau, the survey is the most comprehensive currently available. It includes national technical, economic and managerial data ranging from population connection rates to drinking water supply to waste water treatment levels to prices and governance.
However, it cautioned that very different national circumstances did not allow for simple comparisons between countries. In some areas where data were not always available in each country EurEau extrapolated the results across Europe.
As every country collects data with different frequencies, there is no reference year where all the data are collected. However,EurEau said that statistics on the water sector do not vary as quickly as other sectors and it was confident that comparing data collected between 2012 and 2015 is still relevant.
Click here to download Europe’s water in figures: An overview of the European drinking water and waste water sectors 2017 edition
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