28,000 vacancies for skilled labour in climate-related professions in NRW. That is every second unfilled skilled labour position in the state. To counteract this, the industry associations for energy and water supply, wastewater disposal and climate-related professions are now joining forces - under the patronage of Mona Neubaur, Karl-Josef Laumann and Oliver Krischer. In the last [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed as inadmissible the actions brought by the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries against the extended producer responsibility of the Urban Waste Water Directive. The decision confirms the view of the water associations that the polluter pays principle plays an important role at European level and must be implemented consistently. It is now important to transpose the law into German law swiftly and without special [...]
On 17 February 2026, the European Council formally adopted the Water Package. In addition to the Environmental Quality Standards Directive, the Water Framework Directive and the Groundwater Directive will also be amended. The agw has been closely monitoring the process in recent years. The amendments to the EQS Directive in particular will have a major impact on future water management in Europe. In particular, the inclusion of numerous [...]
At this year's IFAT from 4 to 7 May 2026 in Munich, we will once again be part of the DWA joint stand at the Messe West entrance. Especially in our anniversary year, we are looking forward to the networking, the nice conversations and the colourful hustle and bustle around the water industry. Please come and visit us. As an agw member you have [...]
This year, agw will once again be represented with a stand at the Essen Conference from 4 to 6 March 2026 at Messe Essen. Come by and find out more about the water management associations in NRW. Further information: www.essenertagung.de
Effective flood management requires an integrated approach. Holistic river basin management, as practised by the NRW water associations for decades, provides a sensible framework for this. The fact that the NRW State Flood Protection Pact signed today by the Ministry of the Environment, the district governments, the municipalities, cities and districts, together with the water boards, now wants to take an integral view of flood protection and improve it, is a good and important [...]
Things are finally moving: shortly before Christmas - as announced by the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia - the draft bill for the H₂O-NRW Water Strategy for the Future was published. The paper contains 17 goals grouped under the four thematic clusters of resilience, security, cooperation and design. The goals should not be viewed in isolation, [...]
Call for donations December 2025 Info event: Donation platform Ukraine on 12 January 2026, 12:00-13:00 via MS Teams (dial-in link available via external link) On behalf of the associations agw, AöW, BDEW, DBVW, DWA, GWP and VKU, we cordially invite you to our digital info event „Donation platform Ukraine“ (registration not necessary), where we will answer your questions and provide a compact overview of the Ukraine [...].
