European Water Partnership

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Access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and proper infrastructure are pressing global needs. Major water challenges that were thought to be confined to developing and very arid countries, also apply to the wider Europe, which still has over 40 million people without access to safe drinking water and over 85 million without basic sanitation. The European Union faces problems to deliver on its commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and the commitment to clean the Mediterranean by 2020. Water is already a major security and competitiveness issue.

The European Water Partnership is a response to these issues. The EWP is an independent non-profit organisation, which was jointly set up by 16 European organisations in 2006. It harnesses European capacity, helps to coordinate initiatives and activities in international water issues and undertakes worldwide promotion of European expertise related to water. The European Water Partnership is a focal point for the exchange of information related to activities and services of the private sector, (regional, national and local) government bodies, knowledge and research institutes and NGO’s with expertise in the water sector.

Objectives of the European Water Partnership

• Provide an open and independent forum to discuss innovative management, technological and financial solutions.

• Mobilise funding methods for water and develop new procurement approaches.

• Stimulate and support cooperation between members.

• Put water on the mainstream political and media agenda, improving awareness of the urgency of water challenges among policy makers and business.

• Promote the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in the wider Europe and through an EU neighborhood policy for water and the Horizon 2020 programme for the Mediterranean.

• Contribute independently to the EU initiatives related to water.

• Promote technological and managerial innovation, developing projects to demonstrate innovative technologies and solutions, enabling these technologies to reach the market.

For more information on the European Water Partnership and its activities visit http://www.ewp.eu