The EU currently has a strong position in the water sector that covers from research to industrial production of water related technologies. According to the European Technology Platform for Water, WssP, by 2030 it could be regarded as the global leader in the provision of sustainable water services.

Advancing water efficiency requires innovation

Eco-innovation in the water sector can help to sustainably meet rising demands while addressing more effectively pollution and purification, improving efficiency and quality and promoting the ‘green’ efforts of many industries. Eco-innovation in water is growing: the EU-funded European Innovation Partnership for Water (EIP Water) has identified more than 120 demonstration sites where significant water-related innovation is taking place. Water efficient and water-free technologies have made advancements, wastewater treatment standards and regulations strive for more ecological processes and smarter distribution systems are continually designed and implemented.

ETV: overcoming uncertainty

Although many innovations in water technology already exist, market adaptation is particularly challenging in this sector because of the high risk and a large impact and the precise quality standards and sanitation requirements. In many of the cases, utilities or companies are averse to trying new concepts or technologies due to their uncertain performance and to the fear of high investment costs with low or uncertain returns.

To better incorporate water technologies and to enhance Europe's competitiveness while contributing to job creation and economic growth, practical testing, collaboration, coordination and exchanges of best practices are necessary. The EU Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) addresses this need by offering a third-party assessment of performance claims and contributes to advancing technology in the water economy by verifying innovative technologies and proving their environmental advantages.

It is expected that the verification of the performance of environmental technologies will benefit both the technology developers and the technology purchasers, such as water utilities, municipalities or investors. Developers are able to prove the reliability of their performance claims supported by a robust set of test data, while purchasers are able to obtain an objective assessment of the performance of a product and hence better identify the right innovative technologies to meet their needs.

By encouraging the adoption of new solutions, ETV also supports the principles of the Circular Economy. This is even more relevant for highly innovative technologies which are more advanced than the available standards, classifications and labels as ETV manages the performance assessment in a custom and tailor-made process that defines the specific parameters and the methods for each evaluation.

Currently, there are 21 water technologies related to water and wastewater treatment, as well as water monitoring using probes or sensors undergoing the ETV verification process.

Note to readers:

This article is temporarily published through the new European Commission's corporate communication tool: "Newsroom". For future newsletters, the articles will be directly embedded on the new ETV website, which will go live soon.

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