Green meets grey: Veolia’s approach for resilient and sustainable water management

Abstract

As climate change intensifies impacts on the water cycle, adaptation of water utilities is key to maintain drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services. For Veolia, Nature-based Solutions (NBS) will play a significant role in providing more resilient water services, in combination with conventional grey infrastructures. NBS will enhance water security while contributing to biodiversity preservation, risk reduction, carbon emission reduction, and improved well-being. This green-grey integration can lead to optimized investment and operational costs, water quality compliance and cultural adoption by traditionally technological-oriented water utilities. This paper presents Veolia’s green meets grey approach including an assessment framework to assess NBS benefits, case studies, and implementation challenges for wider NBS adoption in the water management business.