Climate change and the water sector in Europe: a review of research and technology development needs I. Escaler, A. Cabello, C. Campos, B. Lesjean, C. Hervé-Bazin and M. Velasco ABSTRACT The Water supply and sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP) was initiated by the European Commission in 2004. It is led by industries in collaboration with academics, research organisations and water users to help structure the European Research Area and identify R&D needs for the water sector. In December 2008, the board of the WssTP identified the need to create a Task Force on Climate Change in order to build a working group focused on the issue and able to assist the EU Commission in the related Calls for Projects. The Task Force on Climate Change did a review on the research and technology development (RTD) needs related to each of the WssTP topics, highlighting the challenges they will face in a climate change context. This paper is based on the review carried out and presents its main conclusions. The RTD topics identified involve a broad range of expertise areas and can be divided into two main groups: mitigation and adaptation. The latter will be brought to the fore in this paper. I. Escaler (corresponding author) A. Cabello M. Velasco CETaqua Water Technology Centre, Carretera d’Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellà, Barcelona, Spain E-mail: iescaler@cetaqua.com C. Campos Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, Torre Agbar – Avda Diagonal 211, 08018 Barcelona, Spain B. Lesjean KompetenzZentrum Wasser Berlin, Cicerostr. 24, 10709 Berlin, Germany C. Hervé-Bazin WssTP, Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Center, 127, rue du Colonel Bourg, 1150 Brussels, Belgium Key words | adaptation, climate change, research and technology development needs, water, WssTP INTRODUCTION The Water supply and sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP) was initiated by the European Commission in 2004 to promote coordination and collaboration of research and technology development in the water industry. Different com- munities working in the water sector are present amongst its members and contributors: industrialists, research groups, policy makers, financiers and water consumers. The platform is divided into six Pilot Programmes (PP), each of them deal- ing with a major European water issue: Pilot Programme 1: Mitigation of water stress in coastal zones Pilot Programme 2: Sustainable water management inside and around large urban areas Pilot Programme 3: Sustainable water management and agriculture Pilot Programme 4: Sustainable water management for industry Pilot Programme 5: Reclamation of degraded water zones (surface water and groundwater) Pilot Programme 6: Proactive and corrective management of extreme hydro-climatic events In order to complete the work done by the PPs, working groups known as task forces (TF) were created to handle the cross-cutting fields from the different programmes (Figure 1). The Task Force on Climate Change was created in December 2008, in order to assess existing knowledge and initiatives regarding climate change and to formulate specific recommendations for research and technology development (RTD) needs. In this paper, the work carried out by the TF on Climate Change to achieve its goal is compiled, and the challenges each PP will be faced with in the future are identified. Finally a RTD-needs priority list, which has been drawn up by experts from conclusions of workshops, is developed. 79 © WSSTP 2012 Journal of Water and Climate Change | 03.2 | 2012 doi: 10.2166/wcc.2012.022