Securing the Water Commons: A Holistic Resilience-Based Approach to a Strategic Resource

AKATT SA, 251, Agiou Dimitriou str, 173 42, Agios Dimitrios, Athens, Greece

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Abstract

The issue of water security is one of the major concerns of Europe’s resilience in the face of climate change, geopolitical rivalry, and emerging cybersecurity issues. This paper recognises water as an entity that exhibits a duality, as it is both a common good and a strategic resource. That duality, as well as the interdependence of other sectors and water, which is most evident when systemic failure and malfunctions in water supply systems jeopardise the provision of vital services, including healthcare, food supply, energy generation, industrial operations, and other societal activities, helps explain the urgency of securing water. The analysis reveals that today’s water infrastructure is vulnerable not only to environmental and physical threats but also to cybersecurity threats arising from the convergence of the cyber and physical worlds. The NIS 2 Directive and the Critical Entities Resilience Directive of the European Union create an ample regulatory basis for addressing such threats. Implementation, however, proves more challenging.