Sweco

Stockholm – October 05, 2026 -- Europe's water utilities currently invest roughly €52.5 billion annually in drinking-water and wastewater infrastructure, yet the European Commission estimates an annual funding gap of around €23 billion, according to a new Urban Insight report from engineering and consultancy firm Sweco.

Replacement rates lag decades behind network age across EU member states

Sweco's analysis, titled Transforming Europe's Water Infrastructure, finds that at current reinvestment rates, the time needed to fully replace a country's drinking-water network ranges from roughly 90 years in Belgium to approximately 1,000 years in Lithuania. Finland and Poland both exceed 500 years, while several other countries fall between 120 and 200 years.