01/04/2026.- Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE) joined a broad coalition of European water-dependent sectors in sending a joint letter to the European Commission regarding the upcoming targeted revision of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
The letter, sent to Commissioner Jessika Roswall and copied to Executive Vice-Presidents Teresa Ribera and Stéphane Séjourné as well as Commissioner Christophe Hansen, calls for a thorough and comprehensive economic impact assessment as part of the planned targeted revision of the Directive.
For the natural mineral water sector, purity at source is not an added value, it is a legal and operational condition to operate.
Across Europe, the sector represents more than 900 production sites and around 100,000 direct jobs. Natural mineral water is defined by its origin and purity and can only undergo very limited treatments under EU law. This makes the protection of water resources at source indispensable.
Any deterioration in water quality would therefore have direct consequences for production, investment certainty and employment in regions across the EU.
In its Call for Evidence, the Commission indicated that the revision aims to address potential bottlenecks in the current legislation while maintaining high environmental and health standards. NMWE and the co-signatories support the EU’s objectives of strengthening competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
However, the joint letter stresses that any changes to core protection principles, including the non-deterioration principle, must be carefully assessed for their unintended operational and economic consequences.
Lower raw water quality could:
- Increase treatment costs for water-dependent sectors;
- Lead to the abandonment of certain water sources where additional treatment is technically, legally or economically unfeasible;
- Reduce overall water availability and increase tensions between users;
- Weaken food chain resilience and rural employment.
For natural mineral water producers, where treatment options are strictly limited, prevention through strong protection standards remains the only viable and sustainable approach.
The recently adopted European Water Resilience Strategy underlines the link between water resilience and Europe’s economic competitiveness. Achieving resilience depends on effective implementation of the EU water acquis and on predictable regulatory frameworks that enable long-term investment.
A robust water framework is not only an environmental safeguard, it is a structural foundation for Europe’s competitiveness, food systems and industrial base.
Read the joint letter here.