{"id":465598,"date":"2026-09-21T18:58:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/21\/al-via-laccademia-europea-dellacqua-litaliana-acea-tra-i-campioni-del-progetto\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T19:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:19:45","slug":"the-european-water-academy-is-launched-with-italys-acea-among-the-projects-key-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/21\/the-european-water-academy-is-launched-with-italys-acea-among-the-projects-key-players\/","title":{"rendered":"The European Water Academy is launched, with Italy\u2019s ACEA among the project\u2019s key players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 From infrastructure to skills, the European Union is seeking to develop a new response to the challenges posed by water. The European Water Academy (EUWA)<\/a>, one of the initiatives under the European Commission\u2019s European Water Resilience Strategy<\/a>, was launched today (21 September) at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. Led operationally by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Academy aims to \u201cbridge the skills gap in the water sector, support innovation and foster technology transfer and collaboration between institutions, businesses, universities, and research organisations<\/strong>\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Academy was established at a time when pressure on Europe\u2019s water resources has increased as a result of droughts, heatwaves, floods, pollution, and outdated infrastructure. The issue is so pressing that Ursula von der Leyen, in her State of the Union address<\/a>, even spoke about it in Strasbourg. The aim is to create a European offering of training and skills development programmes, through certified pathways and a network of public and private organisations.<\/strong> The project is structured around three strands: Blue Training<\/em>, to bring together accredited training programmes; Blue Skills<\/em>, dedicated to the development of professional skills; and Blue Bubble<\/em>, a European network of trainers, professionals and organisations. <\/p>\n

The launch event was attended by the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resilience, Jessika Roswall<\/strong>, who stated that \u201cwater plays a critical role in everyday life, but it faces growing threats on a daily basis.\u201d  Roswall believes that, with an ageing workforce in the water sector and increasing competition for talent, Europe needs to \u201cbuild knowledge, skills and expertise \u2013 factors we need to ensure a water-resilient continent.\u201d <\/p>\n

A need made all the more urgent by the summer just gone, which was marked by extreme heat and drought<\/strong>. \u201cThis summer has clearly reminded us that the time to act is now,\u201d explained Roswall during the launch. \u201cWe need a more proactive approach to water. We need a better understanding of water resilience and water systems in all their complexity,\u201d the Commissioner concluded. <\/p>\n

ACEA, Italy\u2019s leading water operator and the second largest in Europe \u2013 according to figures published by the company itself \u2013 is also among the first EUWA Champions. “This is a historic day for the water sector, and ACEA is proud to be among the Champions of the European Water Academy,<\/strong>” said Enrico Pezzoli<\/strong>, CEO of ACEA Acqua, in Brussels. \u201cWater resilience is not just an infrastructural<\/strong> or technological<\/strong> challenge: it is, above all, a challenge relating to skills and people,<\/strong>\u201d he added, emphasising the need to make the sector more \u201cattractive to young people\u201d and to invest in training.<\/p>\n

According to Pezzoli, participation in the Academy will enable ACEA to bring its wealth of expertise to the European stage. \u201cWe firmly believe that the challenge of infrastructure in the water sector is one that begins, first and foremost, with people\u2019s mindset,\u201d he explained. The focus is therefore on innovation<\/strong>, the CEO explained. Innovation in \u201ctraditional infrastructure,\u201d because for too long \u201cthe water sector has been somewhat sidelined due to climate change and all the challenges that lie ahead.\u201d But innovation in people, too. \u201cAt ACEA, we have been investing for years in professional development and in collaboration with universities, business schools and research institutions, viewing training as a strategic driver of transformation,\u201d and \u201cwe want to share our wealth of knowledge at a European level too, to contribute to the creation of a genuine European water community and build more resilient, sustainable, and innovative water systems,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is one of the initiatives under the Commission\u2019s water resilience strategy. The aim is to bridge the skills gap in the sector, support innovation, and promote technology transfer and collaboration between institutions, businesses, universities, and research organisations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":451723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35503],"tags":[28914,31280,35791,27626,35792,29603,26836,35793],"class_list":["post-465598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambiente","tag-acea-en","tag-bruxelles-en-3","tag-enrico-pezzoli","tag-european-regions-encommittee","tag-european-water-academy","tag-jessika-roswallat","tag-water-en","tag-water-academy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465599,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465598\/revisions\/465599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}