The European Water Awareness and Water Stewardship Programme

With the new voluntary programme Aquawareness the EWP wants to respond to the current water challenges and wants to contribute to a movement of change in Europe. Aquawareness is supported by EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas. Additionally the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia, which is now holding EU Presidency, welcomes and supports this initiative.

Aquawareness will be guided by the following objectives:

• Support the shift of mindset in Europe towards a water saving culture
• Create awareness among political decision makers, key stakeholders and
  citizens
• Support the change of behaviour and practices
  

Aquawareness will be structured into two main components:

• Water awareness programme
• Water stewardship programme

The Stewardship Programme is developing principles of advanced water stewardship which will be widely adopted by a wide range of actors and help promote sustainable water practices globally. It relies on an independently verified and voluntary system, which when adopted by public and private actors will complement the legal framework. Water stewardship will also help to implement specific new initiatives foreseen in the EU Communication on Water Scarcity and Drought.

The impact will be to reduce waste, improve efficient use of water, lower energy consumption relating to water, and stimulating investment for infrastructure and modernisation.

The EWP is engaging with strategic partners ranging from the general public to business to increase water awareness and adapt behaviour of consumers, industry, agriculture and other decision makers in both the public and private sectors. Independent governance is assured through the water stewardship council.

The objectives of the water stewardship programme are:

• Becomes a widely adopted instrument for sustainable water management
  crossing public private and sectoral barriers
• Promotes water to become an integral part of policy and business agendas
• Creates knowledge & transparency on production and consumption
  patterns via methodologies to assess water footprints

EWP-contact: Agnes Biesiekierska