By Dr Akanksha Agarwal, member of the IWA YWP India Chapter and founder of AgroMorph Technosolutions Pvt Ltd
As Europe transitions towards a cleaner, more competitive, and circular economy, nature-based solutions (NbS) emerge as a key driver in achieving sustainability and resilience in water management. The EU Green Week 2025 will spotlight the ‘three Cs’ – Clean, Competitive & Circular – showcasing how circularity can be embedded at the core of economic and environmental strategies.
For Young Water Professionals (YWPs), this transition presents an opportunity and a responsibility. As emerging leaders in the water sector, YWPs must champion policies, innovations, and collaborations that position NbS as a mainstream solution. Through interdisciplinary partnerships and innovative financial models—such as green bonds and circular economy incentives—we can accelerate the adoption of nature-based approaches, ensuring that water remains a driver of sustainable growth, not a limiting factor.
This article written by Dr Akanksha Agarwal, a member of the IWA YWP India Chapter, explores the role of NbS in shaping a circular water economy, demonstrating how YWPs can be at the forefront of designing and implementing solutions that align with the EU’s Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the broader global sustainability agenda.
Water is at the heart of our planet’s sustainability, yet conventional management approaches often overlook nature’s capacity to heal, regulate and purify its resources. As YWPs, we must understand and drive a shift towards a circular water economy—one that maximises resource efficiency, minimises waste, and integrates nature-inspired approaches to create Earth-friendly water systems.
What does a Circular Water Economy mean?
A circular water economy focuses on closing the loop in water use—maintaining the natural hydrological cycle by treating wastewater as a resource, recycling and reusing this treated resource, and ultimately restoring ecosystems. Traditionally our linear approach of ‘use and dispose’ is contradictory to circularity which emphasises resource management, resilience and overall resource efficiency.
Nature-inspired Solutions: Harnessing the Power of Nature
Nature-based or nature-inspired solutions (NbS) leverage natural processes or mimic nature’s science to enhance resource sustainability. For the water sector, NbS not only address water challenges but also delivers co-benefits such as biodiversity enhancement, climate resilience, and carbon sequestration. Some NBS towards a circular water economy include:
- Plant and microorganism-based Wastewater Treatment: Breakdown or uptake of nutrients from wastewater through constructed wetlands, phytoremediation, phycoremediation, aerobic and anaerobic processes enable chemical-free improvement in water quality. Cities like Copenhagen and Singapore have pioneered NbS and successfully integrated it to complement traditional wastewater treatment plants.
- Urban Water Management and the Role of Green Infrastructure: Urban flooding and drought are two events that sometimes occur in the same geographies. Poor urban water management plays a vital role in amplifying these calamities. Through permeable pavements and rain gardens, nature allows us to not just recharge the groundwaters but also prevent urban flooding. Melbourne and Rotterdam have implemented green infrastructure and created a climate-resilient water system for their respective cities.
- Forest and Watershed Restoration: Forests act as a natural water filter trapping sediments and stabilising soil to prevent events of soil erosion. Watershed restoration is a step towards allowing nature to assist our water management strategies. Rehabilitation of forests, reforestation, and wetland conservation are means to ensure a clean and reliable water supply for human establishments. One fine example is New York City which invests in upstream watershed conservation thereby reducing the city’s need for expensive water filtration infrastructure.
Why Should Young Water Professionals Care about NbS?
Erratic climate behaviour, flooding, and water scarcity are events that have become quite common for our generation. In the face of these adversities, as future leaders in the water sector, it is mandatory for us YWPs to step up and champion NbS-driven circular water strategies. Key contributions that we can make include advocacy of NbS, contributing towards the research and innovation, collaborating and ultimately implementing projects on the ground to give them a chance. All of this requires interdisciplinary collaboration that blends ecology, engineering, and policy to implement scalable solutions. By fostering partnerships, embracing innovative finance models (such as green bonds or carbon credits), and ultimately advocating for NBS we can accelerate our transition to a more sustainable water future.
Nature has given us techniques to regulate and manage our resources. We must embrace NbS and not just consider them an alternative, but a necessity to achieve a circular water economy. Education and awareness on the topic exist but the lack of implementation and policies resists the switch to NbS on a wide scale. It is essential to mandate the use of NbS in upcoming water conservation projects to ensure a more resilient and circular water economy.
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