project

Knowledge file for the water transition and drinking water

The drinking water sector’s collective research programme Waterwijs has developed a lot of knowledge that is valuable and that can be used in work on the water transition. The Water Transition and Drinking Water Knowledge File links this knowledge from Waterwijs about the water transition to case studies from practice. In this way, drinking water professionals and KWR researchers can learn from each other and knowledge is more readily available for people working in the field.

Water transition and drinking water

Our water system is under pressure from water shortages, fast water drainage, increasing water consumption, pollution and salinisation. We must work with water differently to make the system more resilient to climate change and to maintain adequate supplies of clean water for nature, drinking water, industry and agriculture. This process is known as the ‘water transition’.

The water transition requires intelligent decisions about planning our country so that adequate supplies of clean water are maintained for everyone. To secure drinking water supplies in the future, it is also important to use water (and particularly drinking water) more economically and to reuse the available water. The major challenge is to develop action perspectives that will help to shape this change in the administrative and physical water system, putting the value of water first.

Knowledge file for the water transition and drinking water

The goal of the project is to increase the impact of Waterwijs knowledge about the water transition, and therefore to support and accelerate the water transition. The deliverables are collected in the Water Transition Knowledge File, and they consist of three categories:

  1. Knowledge mapping: fact sheets that unlock available knowledge relating to the challenges in the water transition. These are accompanied by an overview of KWR experts and a list of relevant Waterwijs reports;
  2. Values in the water transition: possible solutions based on specimen cases that set out value considerations;
  3. Impact in action: a description of action perspectives for achieving the water transition.

factsheet
The Water Transition Knowledge File will be supplemented in the latter half of 2025 with possible solutions, action perspectives for the drinking water sector that contribute to the water transition. New references to relevant Waterwijs deliverables will also be added regularly.

You can register for updates here.

Knowledge mapping

In the first phase of the knowledge file, the available knowledge has been mapped out by drafting fact sheets about important topics that set out the challenges and possible solutions based on research results from Waterwijs.

Overview of the fact sheets

Each fact sheet refers to a number of relevant reports. There are fact sheets about the following topics:

What is the water transition?

Illustration 1: Water transition.

The water transition is interpreted in different ways in the water sector. For example, different actors have different ideas about the central challenge, the management arrangements, the integrality of the challenge, the depth of the change, the assumed plannability of the transition, the core values that are central to the implementation of the transition, and the tools used in its implementation.

A clear insight into how the water system works and the changes can help to shape the water transition and establish strategic coalitions. The different perspectives of stakeholders play an important role here, as do those of groups in the water utility (such as stakeholder managers).
Download the ‘Water Transition’ fact sheet.’.

View the references for ‘What is the water transition?’.

Experts:

Saving drinking water

Illustration 2: Saving drinking water.

The careful use of water is one of the cornerstones of  the water transition. The aim of The National Action Plan for Saving Drinking Water (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, 2024) is a 20% reduction in drinking water use by 2035. For households, that means a reduction from 129 to 100 litres of drinking water per person per day (lpppd). Legal, economic and behavioural measures are needed to achieve this goal. A joint effort will be required from drinking water users (households, businesses and agriculture), government authorities and water utilities.

Download the ‘Saving drinking water’ fact sheet.

View the references for ‘Saving drinking water’.

Experts:

Water-aware technology in the home

Illustration 3: Water-aware technology in the home. Blue is drinking water, grey is waste/used water. The thicker the arrow, the larger the volume.


Fresh water that is freely available for human use is becoming scarcer. A valuable component of the water transition could involve using water more economically in the home. In addition, steps are being made to achieve ‘water-aware construction’ when building new homes and during renovation operations: to apply technology that helps  save drinking water. There are different technological options here: water-efficient technology, reusing water, or using alternative water sources. Each of these possible solutions can help to relieve pressure on existing freshwater resources on the domestic scale. However, research and experience do indicate that local water reuse and the local deployment of alternative sources also involve substantial social costs such as public health risks, a higher ecological footprint, higher costs, and unintended adverse effects on the urban and natural water system. It is therefore important to strike an informed balance between water awareness and social responsibility.

Download the ‘Water-aware technology in the home’ fact sheet.

View the references for ‘Water-aware technology in the home’.

Experts:

Source and chain approach

Illustration 4: Source and chain approach.

A source or chain approach is very useful for tackling the contamination of the water system. For example, 2016 saw the launch of the Chain Approach ‘Pharmaceutical Residues out of Water’ in which the Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management, of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, and of Health, Welfare and Sport are working with stakeholders from the pharmaceutical industry, and the healthcare and water sectors, in order to reduce amounts of pharmaceutical residues in water. The broad alliance is resulting not only in less discharge via wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) but also in increased knowledge in the healthcare sector about the environmental impact of these substances and the proper collection of unused pharmaceuticals.

Download the ‘Sourch and chain approach’ factsheet.

View the references for ‘Source and chain approach’.

Experts:

Room for drinking water

Illustration 5: Room for drinking water.

Making the drinking water system future-resilient requires – like many other spatial functions – physical space. This means a change is needed in both the spatial and socio-governance structures of the Netherlands. Traditional responsibilities, tasks and roles will no longer always be straightforward here. Spatial planning decisions will be needed as space becomes increasingly scarce. A more integrated approach is needed to meet the complex, multiple claims on space that the water transition involves.

Water is a common denominator in many challenges, such as those relating to housing, agriculture and nature. Proper coordination with respect to the different requirements relating to the water and soil system is therefore necessary. Developments in policy and legislation, such as the introduction of the Environment Act, or principles such as Water and Soil as Leading Factors (taking these resources into consideration), provide ways to establish a better equilibrium between the various functions that involve claims on the living environment. This requires tough choices, with administrative and public support as crucial elements.

Download the ‘Room for drinking water’ fact sheet.

View the references for ‘Room for drinking water’.

Experts

Drinking water in the landscape

Illustration 6: Drinking water in the landscape

DThe water transition requires intelligent decisions about planning our country. A landscape perspective can shape this change in light of the interactions between physical, administrative and social landscapes. Creating a climate-robust water system, while also combining functions with other actors and activities, is a major challenge here. A landscape perspective can also be adopted for drinking water. Take a drinking water landscape, for example: the requirements imposed by drinking water supplies and nature here on water management are the main priorities in spatial planning, water system design and water management. In addition, water retention is combined with improving water quality. Functions other than drinking water and nature are possible as long as they comply with the area-specific objectives of the drinking water landscape. This requires the upgrading of landscape-ecological relationships.
Download the ‘Drinking water in the landscape’ fact sheet.

View the references for ‘Drinking water in the landscape’.

Experts:

New considerations in the water system

Illustration 7: New considerations in the water system.

Drought, salinisation and intensive land use are creating ever-larger challenges for freshwater supplies in the Netherlands and Flanders. Inevitably, for the water transition that is required, our perspective is shifting from a linear view of water systems (with the focus on draining water to prevent flooding) to a more circular perspective. The beneficial use of ‘excess’ water flows can improve freshwater supplies. This means thinking in terms of the water system. All sorts of new compounds can be found in the water system, several variants of which have been studied in recent decades. In terms of sources, these are mainly centrally located residual flows such as WWTP effluent and industrial residual water. However, natural water flows and local options are also possible (such as rainwater or grey water). The applications are also varied: if properly applied, new compounds of this kind open up opportunities for agriculture, industry, ecosystems and even drinking water.

Download the ‘New considerations in the water system’ fact sheet.

View the references for ‘New considerations in the water system’.

Experts:

The Water Transition Knowledge File will be supplemented in the latter half of 2025 with possible solutions, action perspectives for the drinking water sector that contribute to the water transition. New references to relevant Waterwijs deliverables will also be added regularly.

List of references:

What is the water transition?

Waterwijs/BTO

GRROW lab: een intergenerationeel lab voor de drinkwatersector – KWR
Generational and Radical Rethinking of the Water Sector
Wat is de watertransitie? – Een cartografie van een prikkelende ambitie
Transformatief omgevingsmanagement
Interventies in het watersysteem

Other

Water verbindt – Unie van Waterschappen

Saving drinking water

Waterwijs/BTO

100 liter per persoon per dag. Welke waterbesparingsmaatregelen zijn nodig?
Drinkwaterbesparing: Bereidheid en waterbesparend gedrag bij huishoudens
Drinkwaterbesparing bij zakelijke grootverbruikers. Een verkenning vanuit vier perspectieven
Waterbeschikbaarheid en droogte lange termijn: syntheserapport

Other

Nationaal Plan van Aanpak Drinkwaterbesparing | Rapport | Rijksoverheid.nl

Water-aware technology in the home

Waterwijs/BTO

Transitions in the drinking water infrastructure – a retrospective analysis from source to tap
100 liter per persoon per dag. Welke waterbesparingsmaatregelen zijn nodig?
Huishoudwater en de klant – Landelijke ontwikkelingen & resultaten BTO 1997-1998
Veilig water uit alternatieve bronnen, WiCE 2025.002
Brede beoordeling van decentrale alternatieve wateroplossingen, KWRW 2025.038

Other

Nationaal Plan van Aanpak Drinkwaterbesparing | Rapport | Rijksoverheid.nl

Source and chain approach

Waterwijs/BTO

Spectral Quality – Quality prediction of tandem mass spectra of environmentally relevant compounds using machine learning
Environmental forensics, signatures of pollution
Water in the Exposome
Deltafact Kennisimpuls Waterkwaliteit – Wat zijn bioassays en wat kan ik ermee?
Grondwaterkwaliteit Nederland 2020. Anorganische parameters, bestrijdingsmiddelen, farmaceutica en overige verontreinigende stoffen in de grondwatermeetnetten van de provincies
Bestrijdingsmiddelen in Nederlandse bronnen voor drinkwater (2018-2022)
Pharmaceuticals in the environment – science policy
PFAS in Europees water … een verkenning
Gebiedsgerichte maatregelen voor het mestbeleid

Other

Innamestops waterwinbedrijven, 1969/2007-2022 | Compendium voor de Leefomgeving
Ketenaanpak ‘Medicijnresten uit Water’ | Informatiepunt Leefomgeving
Fate of microplastics in the drinking water production – ScienceDirect

Room for drinking water

Public design for water – KWR
GRROW lab: een intergenerationeel lab voor de drinkwatersector – KWR
Trendalert Naar een herordening voor ruimtelijke ontwikkeling in Nederland?
Rolinvullingen van waterbedrijven in de omgeving
Spelend aan de slag met de watertransitie: serious game Aqua Ludens
Meervoudige waardecreatie voor de watersector

Drinking water in the landscape

Waterwijs/BTO

Waterwijzer Natuur – KWR
Factsheet 5 De Tijd Dringt – Doelen Kaderrichtlijn Water (KRW) (nov. 2024)
Het vroon ontrafeld. Veertig jaar waterwinning en natuurbeheer in de Middel- en Oostduinen op Goeree
Waterwinning en natuur in de duinen – Een evaluatie van de ontwikkelingen tussen 1990-2022 (Water production and nature in dune areas. An evaluation of developments between 1990 and 2022)
REFLECT beoordeling van de risico’s landgebruik voor grondwaterwinningen. Herziene versie van het instrument uit 1999 en implementatie van de keileemkaart

Other

Drinkwaterlandschap – een concept voor duurzame inrichting van waterwingebieden
De waarde van natuur voor de watervoorziening
Herijking Grondwaterbeschermingsbeleid
Staat van instandhouding en trends soorten en habitattypen Vogel- en Habitatrichtlijn, 2013-2018 | Compendium voor de Leefomgeving
Kamerbrief over de visie op water en bodem | Kamerstuk | Rijksoverheid.nl
Database ecologische vereisten – abiotische randvoorwaarden – BIJ12

New considerations in the water system

Waterwijs/BTO

Hergebruik van effluent voor de drinkwatervoorziening, een verkenning van eisen en randvoorwaarden
Juridisch kader aanvulling watersysteem met industrieel restwater
Waterhergebruik en de Zoetwatervoorziening (Managementsamenvatting en dataoverzicht op dia’s)
Hergebruik van effluent voor de drinkwatervoorziening, een verkenning van eisen en randvoorwaarden
Interventies in het watersysteem

Other

RWZI als waterfabriek voor een robuuste watervoorziening | STOWA i.s.m. WiCE