On the occasion of the World Water Day “Water for Cities – Responding to the Urban Challenge”, EUREAU, the European Federation of National Associations of Water and Wastewater Services, underlines the importance of re-using water and finding other alternative water sources in urban areas.

 
For EUREAU and its 70.000 associated water suppliers, it is of great concern to find sustainable solutions for water management. EUREAU supports the idea of water re-use and other alternative water sources under an appropriate and correct control especially in urban, but as well in agricultural, recreational, industrial and environmental uses.

 
In the framework of sustainable use of water resources, it is recommended that high quality drinking water is not used for low level purposes such as toilet flushing, laundry or garden watering. It is particularly positive the analysis of alternative use of water at home, in those places where high costs are incurred to produce very high quality drinking water from surface water and also where a low capacity of available drinking water resource can cause water scarcity problems.

 
“For the European water utilities, the environmental and financial impact of using drinking water of high quality for low level purpose are two main points to be taken into account”, states Klara Szatkiewicz, President of EUREAU. “The general drivers for using alternative water supplies – both inside and outside the premises – are water resource availability and financial advantages.”

 
Notes to the editor:
 EUREAU is the European Federation of National Associations of Water and Wastewater Services. Our members provide sustainable water services to more than 400 million people in Europe. They reflect the full diversity of the European water services sector and represent public, private and mixed operators. As the focus point of a European water network, EUREAU represents a unique concentration of technical, scientific and managerial knowledge and practical experience in water services and is the voice of water and wastewater operators in Europe.

Contact Person: Marta Gomez, m.gomez-andres@eureau.org, +32 491 050 893
Water utilities support water reuse