Water in and Beyond the Tap

By: Olaia Mujika Anduiza

Reading time: 4 min 

Image by: Vecteezy

As ordinary and essential as water may seem, it has been at the centre of major debates across Europe. It is one of those basic necessities most people rarely think about because it is simply expected to be there until questions of access, quality, or affordability turn it into a political issue.

From everyday concerns about safe drinking water at home to ongoing discussions on future EU water legislation, water shows how even the most fundamental resources can become highly controversial. With this in mind, today I would like to highlight three important developments surrounding water in Europe: one that belongs to the recent past (although perhaps somewhat forgotten today), and two that are unfolding right now.

Privatisation v. Remunicipalisation of Water

After the 2010 financial crisis, institutions such as the EU, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank encouraged countries like Greece and Portugal to privatize water utilities as part of bailout conditions. These measures sparked widespread public opposition and contributed to the rise of the “remunicipalisation” movement. 

In this context, cities like Berlin and Paris sought to bring water management back under public control in order to improve affordability, transparency, and service quality. This debate also reached the European level through the Right2Water campaign. It was the first successful European Citizen Initiative, and in 2013 it gathered more than one million signatures, reaching the required thresholds across seven countries. By the end of the campaign in September 2013, it had collected nearly 1.9 million signatures. 

The initiative called on the European Commission to recognise water and sanitation as fundamental human rights and to exclude water services from liberalisation policies. Although the Commission later responded by launching a review of the Drinking Water Directive, it has been argued that the reforms did not fully address the initiative’s central demands.

For example, the revised EU Drinking Water Directive encourages Member States to improve access to drinking water in public spaces and restaurants, but it stops short of introducing a binding EU-wide obligation to provide tap water free of charge. Thus, while free tap water is generally a standard practice in Spanish restaurants, in the Netherlands asking for water in a restaurant will often mean being served a carefully branded bottle of mineral water, probably costing four euros or more.

Water Between Public Health and Strategic Interests

Additionally, many people in the EU assume access to clean water is guaranteed. Problems such as water shortages, poor sanitation, or unsafe drinking water are often associated with countries outside Europe. Yet the reality is more complex. 

Precisely because of this complexity, water policy is once again moving higher up the European agenda. As of January 2026, new EU-wide limits on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “permanent chemicals”) in drinking water have officially come into force. 

These substances have been associated with weakened immune systems, increased cholesterol levels, liver damage, and higher risks of kidney and testicular cancers, among others. They are also very polluting because they do not naturally break down. Still, the new measures have sparked a massive regulatory and economic controversy, with many municipalities struggling with the high costs of upgrading filtration systems to meet the strict new standards.

Furthermore, on 17 March 2026, the European Commission launched a call for evidence on the revision of the Water Framework Directive, the EU’s main piece of legislation for protecting and improving Europe’s water resources. The directive focuses on reducing pollution, preserving ecosystems, and guaranteeing sufficient water supplies to sustain both wildlife and human activity.

Under the current framework, Member States are required to ensure that rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and groundwater reach “good status”, although implementation deadlines were extended under certain conditions until 2027. A 2019 evaluation concluded that the legislation broadly works as intended but still identified several areas requiring improvement, including enforcement, chemical pollution, administrative simplification, and digitalisation. Thus, the upcoming targeted revision is expected to modify the Directive in order to better protect water resources in terms of both quality and quantity. 

Behind the current revision, however, there is also a broader strategic concern. Clean water is now viewed not only as an environmental issue but also as a critical economic and geopolitical resource. Ensuring long-term access to it is becoming part of a much wider discussion about economic security, strategic autonomy, and resource resilience in Europe. Not bad for a resource that most of us still take completely for granted.