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2.3 EU Policy development on water reduce

Water reuse encounters numerous barriers in the EU, although this practice is commonly and successfully
used in, for example, Israel, California, Australia, and Singapore. Limited awareness of potential benefits
among stakeholders and the general public, and lack of a supportive and coherent framework for water
reuse are 2 major barriers currently preventing a wider spreading of this practice in the EU. For these
reasons the Commission is working on legislative or other instruments to boost water reuse when it is
cost-efficient and safe for health and the environment.

The Communication “Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s water resources” highlighted water reuse as
a concrete and valid alternative supply option to address water scarcity issues. With maximisation of water
reuse as a specific objective, the Commission identified the opportunity to develop a legislative instrument
for water reuse.

To support this policy development, an impact assessment study was prepared and published in 2015. In
line with Commission guidelines for the development of impact assessment studies, the report includes
a description of the problem definition and of the baseline situation regarding water reuse in the EU, and
elaborates on policy options to be developed in an initiative by the Commission.

To inform this impact assessment, the European Commission organised a Public Consultation on Policy
Options to optimise Water Reuse in the EU in autumn 2014. The consultation gave both private citizens
and stakeholders the opportunity to actively contribute to the design of this initiative. In addition to the
on-line consultation, a stakeholders meeting was organised in December 2014 in Brussels. The public
consultation led to a general agreement in support for the water reuse initiative, in particular concerning
the development of EU-level common minimum quality requirements for reuse. The report on the public
consultation includes the replies to the consultation itself and the feedback from the stakeholders
meeting.