European perspective on digital water Back to content Overview The EU plays a leading role in enhancing smart water management [a]. The quality and quantity of water provisions from the Water Framework Directive, including Drinking Water, Floods, Water Reuse, Urban Wastewater Treatment and Groundwater, have been decisive to start the ball rolling with regards to integrated water management at both a national and local level. Further provisions concerned with Data Protection, Access to Environmental Information and Open Data have played the same role on the digital side. More importantly, initiatives such as the EIP Partnership on Smart Cities and the Digital Single Market for Water Services Action Plan have shown the increasing ambition and interest of the EU in digital water governance. As described by the Policy Action Group of ICT4Water [b], digital solutions provide support to water managers when controlling the general cost of operation but requires investments so planning, simulation and digital decision support can be deployed. The role of digitalisation in achieving a more effective relationship with water end-users is also highly relevant i.e. for citizen engagement, seeking to channel the citizen’s enhanced awareness into a proactive involvement both in the co-creation and subsequent implementation of water-based policies. Digital water solutions support integrated water resource management by providing science-based information and knowledge, employed by water managers both for management and forecast tasks and the raising of citizen awareness and engagement. They provide new mechanisms for water governance, widening the possibilities for stakeholders to understand water and societal challenges, and to interact, codesign and co-implement the solutions. References [a]https://zenodo.or g/record/4320526#.Y fEqx_jjKUl [b]https://data.euro pa.eu/doi/10.2826/4 352
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTYxMTg3