We have been talking about it for years: The vision of a coordinated communication effort to raise water awareness has been the theme of countless congress sessions, webinars and board meetings. Now it is here. Let's join in!

What's there to say about water? It comes out of a tap, and as long as it is transparent and does not smell funny, and as long as the monthly water bill does not go through the roof, the average consumer assumes that everything is o.k. – or is it not?

The public is widely unaware of the fragility of water resources, the impact of droughts, floods and pollution, the need for large-scale infrastructure investments, the threatening lack of qualified staff in utilities, and, last not least, the plain fact that threats to water are threats to civilization itself.

There have been numerous isolated attempts by utility companies and other players to raise awareness through advertising, PR and social media campaigns. Almost always, big ideas and great creativity had to adapt to woefully small budgets. We have discussed this in many, many congress sessions and webinars, always ending up with the conclusion that it will need a coordinated effort by as many stakeholders as possible to achieve serious impact.

In short: We had a dream. Now the dream is coming true:

The EU Directorate-General for the Environment has launched the #WaterWiseEU campaign and is inviting all stakeholders in the water sector to become #WaterWiseEU campaign partners.

The #WaterWiseEU campaign aims to encourage people across Europe to “See Water Differently”. It aims to raise awareness of the key water issues, encourage people to learn about solutions, and show how we can all value, use and manage water differently. 

The campaign had its soft launch on 23 March and was officially launched on 29 May, during EU Green Week focusing on water resilience. The campaign website is online and provides all information and regularly updated content.  At IAWD, we have been playing around with the provided material already - how do you like our claim?

For those who would like to join this first coordinated, continent-wide awareness-raising effort, a downloadable toolkit is available under https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water/water-wise-eu/join_en. It is available in all EU languages for adaptation to different target audiences. The toolkit includes visuals, videos, key messages and more. 

If you are interested in becoming a campaign partner and member of the European Commission DG ENV’s #WaterWiseEU community, reach out to the team at EU-WATERWISE@ec.europa.eu. 

Thank you for joining and adding a bit of power to what hopefully will become a flood!