At the first of two WaterMan Roundtables in Brussels, the discussion flowed openly and directly: Do we need specific water-recycling regulations for Europe’s humid regions? And to which extent can the existing EU Water Reuse Regulation (2020/741) be stretched to support other use cases, beyond its agricultural focus? It was the beginning of a dialogue with ambitions reaching well beyond policy detail.
It’s mid-January – a time of year when drought and water scarcity still feel like distant problems for many people in Central and Northern Europe. But not on this Thursday morning at the Renaissance Hotel in Brussels. Once again, several now well-known infographics are being projected onto the wall or shared via videoconferencing for online participants. There are water-blue pie charts and bar graphs that have visibly shrunk over time, red zones surrounding the Baltic Sea that have grown larger and darker in recent years. For most of the more than 100 participants, policy-makers and experts gathered in the room and online, the core issue is already abundantly clear: due to the seasonal increase in droughts and water shortages, water recycling is no longer just a concern for dry, hot southern Europe. It is becoming an increasingly pressing issue for the humid zones of Central Europe and the Baltic Sea region as well. This is precisely what the “WaterMan” project, one of the organisers of this event, is all about: supporting pilot measures in Baltic Sea countries that push ahead with pragmatic solutions and explore what is already technically feasible today. Gathered around the symbolic roundtable today are not only representatives from the Baltic Sea Region, but also, for instance, from local Flanders in Belgium and other EU countries. More and more humid regions in the EU are being affected. And here and now, they are engaging in exchange.
The key question: Is the current regulation enough?
As we are in Brussels, at the heart of it all are political questions: Across the EU, it has long been clear that we need to recycle wastewater and find more sources of water beyond just groundwater.
In the semi-arid zones of Southern Europe, this has been both a necessity and standard practice for some time. That’s why the EU introduced the Water Reuse Regulation 2020/741, which has been in practical application since June 2023. In terms of water recycling, it offers helpful methodologies and practical guidance, for example on water quality standards and risk assessment protocols.
However, the regulation focuses on one specific use case in particular: the irrigation of agricultural land with recycled water from municipal wastewater treatment plants to mitigate year-round water scarcity. What one needs to be mindful of, though, is that these are requirements and framework conditions that primarily apply to southern European countries such as Spain and Greece. Things look different in the humid regions of Central and Northern Europe. Here, the situation is more about seasonal fluctuations between too much and too little water – and about a significantly broader range of uses for recycled water: in urban parks, sports grounds, industry, or even private households. Consequently, identifying additional sources of water beyond treated municipal wastewater is a much higher priority here. And in places where climate change is causing more frequent extreme rainfall events, intensified rainwater harvesting is the most obvious solution. The question is simply: how can this be achieved?
This is where the conversation began – and where some of the core questions of the roundtable emerged:
- Can Regulation 2020/741 be meaningfully applied beyond agriculture?
- Should the regulation be expanded as part of its upcoming review by 2028?
- Do we need a dedicated regulation for water recycling in humid regions, or would general EU guidelines be more suitable, leaving detailed regulation to member states in line with the subsidiarity principle?
Insights from practice and policy
Valentina Bastino from the European Commission made it clear: The initial focus on agriculture was logical, considering the EU’s single market and food hygiene requirements for agricultural products. But she also stressed that the Commission is eager to gather more data from other use cases, including anecdotal evidence. The goal is to better politically support water recycling in humid regions, whether through an expanded regulation or new guidance frameworks.
Practical insights came from two frontrunners: policy coordinator Kor Van Hoof from the Flanders Region in Belgium and Klas Eriksson from Kalmar in Sweden. Both shared how local projects have made progress without waiting for tailored EU regulations.
In Kalmar, municipal wastewater is already being recycled to irrigate public green spaces. Eriksson explained how applying the water quality standards defined in the existing regulation helped ease concerns, even though they technically fall outside its official scope. After all, water considered safe for irrigating food crops is more than safe enough for city parks. The water quality standards proved extremely useful, even though their application in Sweden technically falls outside the scope of the EU Water Reuse Regulation.
Flanders, meanwhile, has implemented national or regional regulations that, for instance, require rainwater harvesting in new buildings. This measure offers valuable inspiration for other regions and even EU-wide efforts.
Regulation vs. reality: striking the right balance
The concluding panel discussion highlighted a common sentiment: expanding the EU regulation could be helpful – but only when applied with care. Participants stressed the need for more data, more experience, more pilot projects, and more locally grounded knowledge. By this point in the discussion, it had also become clear that the many local dimensions of water recycling inevitably bring the issue into the realm of subsidiarity: what can be handled more effectively at local, regional or national level should be addressed there – not higher up. As Valentina Bastino from the European Commission summed it up, perhaps a new EU regulation isn’t what’s needed after all. Maybe it’s about providing smarter EU-wide guidance that supports and simplifies local initiatives.
A starting point, not a conclusion
That’s precisely the spirit in which the roundtable ended: with a call to keep the conversation going. WaterMan project coordinator Jens Masuch and Tobias Facchini from the Lead Partner Region Kalmar County summarised the event’s key takeaway: We don’t need all the answers today. But we do need the dialogue.
And this was only the beginning. The conversation will continue on 6 November 2025, at the next WaterMan roundtable in Brussels. By then, a policy paper will be drafted, reflecting the latest experiences with water recycling in humid regions, and offering recommendations for adapting legal frameworks, whether at national or EU level.
» Watch the Roundtable Discussion in full length
