Water Transition Platform

The Water Transition Platform accelerates the shift towards a smart, circular and future-proof water system. By bringing together businesses, government bodies, and water-sector organisations, we work to remove non-technical barriers that hinder water conservation, water reuse and circular water value chains.

Working Together on Water Reuse for a Balanced Water System

Water is becoming increasingly scarce. For industry, agriculture, drinking water utilities and public authorities, securing sufficient freshwater availability has become a strategic challenge. At the same time, many innovative solutions are available for water conservation, water reuse and circular water management. However, the implementation of these solutions is often slowed down by non-technical barriers, such as legislation and regulations, permitting procedures, financial incentives and cross-sector collaboration.

The Water Transition Platform brings together stakeholders from across the water value chain to address these barriers and accelerate the transition towards a future-proof water system. The platform fosters collaboration between industry, agriculture, drinking water companies, regional water authorities, governments and knowledge institutions, translating shared challenges into practical solutions and innovative projects.

Collaboration is key to a sustainable future where water is not only a resource, but also a shared responsibility

Why a Water Transition Platform?

The Netherlands is facing a fundamental shift in the way it manages water. Although technical innovations are available, organisations often encounter the same challenges, including:

Uncertainty regarding water quality standards for water reuse and subsurface storage.

Permitting procedures for concentrated effluent streams.

Double taxation in water cascading systems.

A lack of effective collaboration models for cross-sector water use.

Insufficient alignment between water objectives and other sustainability goals, such as CO₂ reduction, energy efficiency and nitrogen reduction.

By addressing these challenges collectively, innovative solutions can be scaled up more rapidly, creating opportunities for investment in water conservation, circular water use and a resilient water system.

A National Network for Acceleration

The Water Transition Platform is a joint initiative of ISPT, the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster, KWR Water Research Institute and STOWA. The platform builds on existing regional and sector-specific initiatives and creates a national connection between these networks. By bringing together knowledge, practical experience and current issues from different regions and sectors, a shared understanding emerges of the key barriers and opportunities for water saving, water reuse and circular water management. This helps to link up fragmented initiatives and enables faster progress towards solutions with a national impact.

From Challenges to Solutions

A key principle of the platform is that complex water-related challenges can only be resolved through collaboration across sectors. That is why the platform works with real-world case studies in which organisations encounter specific obstacles to water saving, water reuse or circular water management.

In targeted working sessions, the relevant stakeholders jointly identify the challenges and work on solutions. In doing so, they:

Identify shared bottlenecks and challenges;
Develop solution pathways for current real-world cases;
Develop courses of action for the parties involved.

The insights gained are discussed during the platform’s quarterly meetings. Participants come together to:

Exchange knowledge and practical experiences;
Discuss current cases and systemic barriers;
Initiate new collaborative initiatives and innovation projects;
Improve the conditions for large-scale implementation of water reuse and circular water management.

Where bottlenecks extend beyond the boundaries of individual organisations or regions, joint actions can be launched to tackle legislation and regulations, the granting of permits or other systemic barriers.

Critical Success Factors for Water (Re)use

One of the platform’s first initiatives is the TKI Agri & Food PPS project Critical Success Factors for Water Reuse. The project analyses successful practical examples to gain insight into the factors that help overcome non-technical barriers. The knowledge gained is translated into practical recommendations and tools that can be applied in other sectors and regions.

Join Us

The Water Transition Platform is open to organisations that wish to actively contribute to the development, agenda-setting and scaling up of innovative solutions for sustainable water management. By combining knowledge, experience and ambition, we are working together towards a future in which water is used more intelligently, efficiently and circularly.

Information folder and conditions to join

Kick-off Water Transition Platform

📅 Friday, 13 November 2026
📍 Spiekerhûs, Ter Apel

During the kick-off meeting, we will combine a visit to the water treatment facility operated by Avebe and NorthWater with inspiring contributions from industry, agriculture, the drinking water sector and government authorities. Together, we will identify the most pressing challenges and explore the first solution pathways for the national water transition programme.

More info & registration