By Amjad Muhammad Khan and Manuel Berlengiero
Delivering water safely uses a surprising amount of energy. In the emerging markets and developing economies of Europe and Central Asia, the energy footprint of delivering water services is particularly high. The average country spends about 10 percent of its energy bills on water use—more than five times the share spent in advanced economies. In fact, total water-related energy use in the region annually is roughly equal to the total energy consumption of Greece.
This makes the delivery of water services a major source of financial pressure and vulnerable to energy security challenges. Making services sustainable will require investing in operational efficiency and getting decision-makers in the sector to make more efficient choices.
Our new report, “De-Energizing Water in Europe and Central Asia,” examines the challenge of managing the energy footprint of water in the region. The good news is that improving the energy efficiency of water services can deliver a strategic triple win: it strengthens utility (and public) finances, improves the reliability of water services, and advances energy security.
Why is water use so energy intensive in Europe and Central Asia?
The core challenge in the region is a legacy of inefficiency. The region’s water infrastructure is aging, overbuilt, and based on outdated technologies. Maintenance backlogs compound the problem. Moreover, a large part of the water pumped into pipes and canals is lost to leakages. Most countries in Europe and Central Asia experience losses of 30–60 percent, far above the 8–25 percent typically seen in Western Europe. These leaks and losses are costly, especially given the large volumes of water in question.
Meanwhile, structural barriers reinforce this technical inefficiency. Artificially low water and energy tariffs dilute incentives for energy efficiency and compromise service providers’ ability to maintain assets or invest in upgrades. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle: inadequate maintenance raises energy costs, which erodes financial capacity, which further delays maintenance and modernisation.
Charting a path towards sustainable energy use in water
Our report lays out a menu of practical options for energy management, building on decades of World Bank engagement in the sector. This includes actions like reducing water losses, adopting modern pumping technologies, improving management practices, and digitalisation. Optimising operations can lower energy costs while improving service reliability.
Resource recovery and renewables offer additional opportunities. Solar canopies over irrigation canals can generate clean power while reducing evaporation losses. Wastewater treatment plants can capture biogas for cogeneration and allow utilities to become energy self-sufficient.
However, standalone technical fixes will not deliver lasting benefits unless paired with policy and pricing reforms. Moving toward cost-reflective tariffs, paired with well-designed safeguards to ensure equitable access, will help incentivise conservation while also funding essential maintenance and investment costs. Mandating energy audits and establishing performance benchmarks can incentivise the adoption of efficiency measures and drive continuous improvement.
Tapping into energy management opportunities
Our water sector projects in the region promote energy management as a key priority.
For instance, World Bank–financed modernisation of irrigation in the South Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan reduced energy consumption by 60 million kWh—the annual energy consumption of half a million Uzbek households.
The project decreased electricity costs by 80 percent by shifting to gravity-fed systems and minimising water losses in canals. With the ministry of agriculture and water resources spending half its budget to power pumping stations, these cost savings reduce reliance on wasteful subsidies and provide much-needed relief to government budgets and taxpayers.
World Bank support for the modernisation of Albania’s water supply and sanitation sector is reducing the energy consumption of the country’s largest water utilities by 20 million kWh per year, through pump upgrades, leakage reduction, and solar power installation. This helps avoid high energy bills that jeopardise financial viability, locking utilities into a downward spiral in performance and subpar service standards. It also averts tax and energy bill arrears adversely affect public agencies tasked with tax collection and electricity provision.
World Bank financing of resource recovery and reuse at the Konya Water and Wastewater Utility in Türkiye enables the generation of electricity through biogas capture. By simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing water scarcity in this fertile region of the country, our projects are ensuring a climate-smart future.
The potential energy savings are large. In Tajikistan, where pumping for irrigation accounts for 20 percent of national electricity use, World Bank-financed energy audits have identified the potential to save 600 million kWh of electricity annually, delivering over US$10 million in savings, by upgrading the vast fleet of pumping stations that feed large-scale irrigation in the country.
Crucially, with the support of the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) in advancing water management through knowledge, data and implementation tools, our projects simultaneously invest in improving the policies, institutions, and regulations that govern the water sector. This ensures sustainable gains.
Why this matters—beyond kilowatt hours
For Europe and Central Asia, energy efficiency will be vital to the sustainable management of water resources. For utilities, it reduces operating costs, reduces reliance on subsidies, and creates more room to invest in service quality. For governments, it alleviates fiscal pressure, enhances energy security, and supports climate commitments. And for water users, it translates into more reliable services.
