Urban Insight report: Old pipes, new pressures

Europe’s water infrastructure is entering a period of transformation. Ageing assets, climate change, changing demand and stricter requirements are increasing the need for water systems that are not only reliable today, but also resilient, adaptable and efficient for decades to come.  

Sweco’s new Urban Insight report, Old pipes, new pressures: Transforming Europe’s Water Infrastructure, highlights that meeting this transformation need is not only about investing more. It is about investing more strategically: making better decisions, strengthening essential services and delivering greater long-term value for communities, utilities and the environment. 

The European Commission estimates an annual investment gap of €23 billion in the EU water sector. The scale of the renewal need is substantial.  

But more spending alone will not solve the problem. The key question is how investment can be directed to where it creates the greatest long-term value. 

A renewal challenge measured in centuries 

Using EurEau 2026 data on annual investment, Sweco has calculated how long it would take to renew drinking water networks at current investment rates. 

The results reveal a significant mismatch between renewal and infrastructure deterioration.  

Based on reported network lengths and current reinvestment rates, the estimated time required to renew drinking-water networks in the European countries studied ranges from approximately 90 years to 1,000 years.  

This creates a clear opportunity for a smarter investment logic.  

Rather than replacing assets simply because they are old, investment should be prioritised according to condition, criticality, failure consequences, climate exposure and system performance. This can improve service continuity, resilience and resource efficiency. 

From renewal to resilience 

Sweco’s report calls for a new investment logic, moving: 

• From renewal to resilience – strengthening systems to withstand and recover from disruption. 

• From assets to systems – considering how infrastructure works together across the water cycle. 

• From fixed to adaptive solutions – keeping investment pathways flexible as conditions change. 

• From data to digitalisation and AI – using better data and analytics to support decisions, with cybersecurity built in. 

Turning data into better decisions 

Sweco projects across Europe show how data, modelling and multidisciplinary expertise can support more targeted investment. 

• In Jersey, Sweco’s integrated digital model of wastewater and surface-water systems supports long-term planning for climate change, growth, pollution control and public health. The modelling has demonstrated the potential to reduce untreated discharges to St Aubin’s Bay by 90 per cent, while supporting the delivery of 8,000 new homes. 

• In Värnamo, Sweden, Sweco’s Smart Water Home platform combines operational, flow, water-level and energy data to identify pump stations with lower energy efficiency than comparable assets. This gives the municipality a stronger basis for targeted maintenance and investment decisions. 

• At the Setterich wastewater treatment plant in Germany, dynamic process modelling is helping identify measures that could improve treatment performance — including through additional sensors and adapted control strategies —without major investment, instead using investment where it can have the greatest impact. 

Together, these projects show how water infrastructure is evolving. The future is not only about renewing pipes, pumps and treatment plants; it is about connecting physical infrastructure with data, modelling and insight to make better decisions throughout the asset lifecycle.