1.     BACKGROUND                                      

European Water Stewardship is a framework for water users to understand their water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a river basin context. The EWS standard, the guiding document of the initiative, is a defined series of indicators for what water stewardship should look like on site and the role of the water stewards within the larger river basin. Certification against the standard is verification by a third party of the performance level of the site based on these indicators. 

Launched in the European Parliament in 2011, the standard has seen a wide uptake by major water users in Europe and beyond as a means to complete a systematic risk assessment, ensure compliance with EU legislation and communicate a job well done. Certified sites have used the process of certification to improve transparency and stakeholder engagement, often improving relationship and communication with local communities, water provider, wastewater treatment plants and local authorities; ensure that water sources and local aquatic ecosystems are protected and understand the correlation between water and other resources like energy.

2.     WHAT IS THE CALL?

The standard holder, the European Water Partnership has launched a call for expressions of interest (EOI) from organizations and individuals qualified and interested in becoming formally involved in the implementation of the European Water Stewardship system and standard in Europe.

3.     WHO SHOULD SUBMIT AN EOI?

In order to have a broader representation of sectors and regions, this EOI intends to gather  experienced organizations and individuals working on water, which have a network are who are interested in the topic of sustainable water management. These individuals can represent control and verification bodies, research institutions, consultancy organizations and others, and will be asked to provide capacity to implement EWS in Europe.

 To be successful in Europe, the EWS system requires active representatives who are:

• Active at EU member state level who engage with water users from different sectors, regions and organizational status, with a particular focus on SMEs.
• Willing to commit to endorse the Water Vision for Europe and to support EWS goals and promote EWS activities.
• Available to participate in specialist training sessions in order to prepare to deliver support for EWS implementation.

4.     WHY JOIN?

By joining EWS as an implementation partner, organizations will have access to:

• Regular information on standard development and activities around standard integrity.
• A network around water stewardship awareness-raising and trainings for civil society water users from the public and private sectors.
• A new work package which can be offered to clients in terms of EWS implementation (training, gap assessments, data collection, pre-assessment gap analysis, self-assessments and reporting).
• Knowledge on how to support clients in the strategic development of a water stewardship strategy and specific technologies which can help guide improvements.
• Recognition and promotion as a qualified and official implementer of the European Water Stewardship in Europe.

5.     HOW TO SUBMIT?

Interested applicants are requested to submit the following information to (or alternatively request additional information from) the EWS secretariat: mailto:contact@ews.info

1. Your area of interest: Consulting services, certification services or other.
2. General information organization’s expertise in the field of water or in a specific sector
3. Background about the individual expertise in the field of water or in a specific sector

 The EOI will be reviewed by the EWS Secretariat and notified in due course of their status.