SOLUCIR, a €5 million European initiative to accelerate the transition to circular and decentralised water management

Faced with rapid urbanisation, the intensification of climate crises and the limitations of traditional centralised infrastructure, the water and sanitation systems of the future can no longer rely on a single model. Often costly to expand, inflexible and vulnerable to climate and environmental pressures, existing systems are now reaching their limits.

Against this backdrop, SOLUCIR proposes a paradigm shift, focusing particularly on peri-urban areas and regions facing major infrastructure gaps, with a clear ambition: to remove the technical, financial, regulatory and societal barriers that still hinder the adoption of decentralised systems.

Coordinated by the Urban Water Management and Hydroinformatics (UWMH) group at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), SOLUCIR brings together 16 partners from 10 countries (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and South Africa), covering the entire water value chain by bringing together world-class universities, research institutes, water operators, technology companies and industry representatives.

To turn research into real-world impact, SOLUCIR adopts a dual empirical and technological approach:

• Building on existing knowledge: analysing the lessons learnt from 23 ‘Inspirational Pilots’ (IPL) to identify best practices and the conditions for success.
• Developing exploratory studies: implementing 5 “Pathfinding Studies” (PFS) in Europe and 1 transferability study in South Africa in direct collaboration with water services and local stakeholders.
• Deploying cutting-edge digital tools: creating management solutions to optimise system performance in real time.
• Establish risk assessment frameworks: implementation of robust protocols covering health and environmental aspects.
• Develop viable business models: development of innovative financing mechanisms to support the long-term adoption of these solutions.

The kick-off meeting, held on 4 and 5 February 2026 at the Serafio complex in Athens, brought together the visions of the 16 beneficiaries. Over the next four years, SOLUCIR will work to lay the foundations for a more resilient, circular and sustainable water supply for future generations in Europe and beyond.

Within SOLUCIR, OiEau plays a cross-cutting and structuring role at the interface between the field, public policy, economic models and the development of stakeholders’ skills:

• Steering innovative economic models and investment schemes: This involves developing operational scenarios, drawing up business plans tailored to different contexts, proposing new financing mechanisms, and setting up a support service, particularly for water services seeking access to financiers such as the European Investment Bank.
• Direct contribution to the knowledge base through two French pilot projects: a zero-liquid-discharge membrane system in Bourges and an urban renaturation scheme in Limoges,
• Steering the Policy Innovation Labs across the five PFS to co-develop tools supporting public policy to facilitate the roll-out of decentralised and circular water systems.
• Design of the training and skills development platform: The challenge is to ensure that the project’s innovations translate into sustainable skills within the regions, well beyond the project’s duration. It contributes its international expertise to the transferability study being conducted in South Africa.

From field data to investment models, from the regulatory framework to stakeholder training, OiEau embodies within SOLUCIR the transition from technical innovation to sustainable operational deployment.