Water Management: solutions and expertise for the sustainable stewardship of water

In a world increasingly marked by the effects of climate change, water management is becoming one of the most urgent priorities for governments, businesses and institutions. The so-called “water crisis” is no longer a phenomenon confined to distant or developing countries: it also closely concerns Italy and the rest of Europe, where water scarcity and the obsolescence of infrastructure are compromising the security of supply, the quality of the resource and the efficiency of its use.

The issue of Water Management, therefore, is not only environmental, but deeply strategic. We need to rethink the entire water cycle – from supply to distribution, from industrial and agricultural use to purification – with an integrated, systemic and sustainability-oriented vision. In this context, training and the role of management are also becoming increasingly important: we need people who can address complexity, interpret data, manage scarcity, and lead organisations in a context of growing environmental and social pressure.

To delve deeper into these aspects, we interviewed Davide Chiaroni, Director of the Master in Water Management at POLIMI Graduate School of Management, who offered us a lucid and detailed reflection on the current state and future challenges of the sector.

Professor Chiaroni, what is the state of health of water resources today, in Italy and globally? To what extent are we experiencing a water crisis, and what are the main causes that are affecting the availability and quality of water?

The water crisis is something that is becoming more and more tangible and really being felt, even in Italy. For decades, we have had problems in peripheral zones: mountainous areas, rural areas, and southern regions. Today, however, the problem also affects large cities, urban areas. I am thinking of the rationing in Sicily, the difficulties encountered in Rome with the Lake Bracciano basin, or the water supply problems that have affected the agricultural sector in the North. The public perception of scarcity has changed: what was once seen as a peripheral issue has now become a central problem.

Two main factors have contributed to this transformation. The first is climate change: the seasons have become more unstable, less predictable. Precipitation is concentrated into violent, short-lived events, which do not favour accumulation in basins. Although the overall amount of rainfall has not necessarily decreased, it is the distribution that has changed, compromising the ability to retain water. Hence the increasingly heated debate on the importance of the old and new catchment basins.

The second factor is the historical underestimation of the value of water. Because it has always cost little – to households, businesses, and the agricultural sector – there has never been a serious investment in infrastructure efficiency. The result? We have a network that loses on average more than 40-45% of the water fed into it: of every 100 litres collected, we lose 50 before they even reach the end user. When water was abundant and cheap, this problem was ignored. But today, with an increasingly hostile climate, inefficiencies are unsustainable.

On a global level, the situation is no better. Even Europe – which once looked at water scarcity as problem of “other people” – has discovered its own vulnerability in recent years. The term “blue gold” is not an exaggeration: it reflects the paradigm shift and value associated with water, now recognised as a strategic and fragile resource.

What are the main challenges we face in managing water at a strategic and managerial level? How can businesses, institutions and public governance effectively contribute to a more sustainable management model?

The challenges are distributed throughout the water cycle. First, there is the supply stage: we must learn to better collect the water that we are losing today. We need to rethink the entire storage system, adapting it to new climate cycles and providing infrastructure that can retain water even during extreme weather events.

Then comes distribution: our networks are old, in some cases obsolete. We have invested a lot in electricity and gas infrastructure, but little in water infrastructure, which has remained on the sidelines of infrastructure policies. Then there is the issue of use: the focus is not so much on households, but on the industrial and agricultural world. This is where we can make a difference, through reuse, recovery and innovation in production processes. Finally, there is the issue of the so-called ‘end of life’ of water: purification, sludge management and waste recovery. These are all issues that are still underdeveloped today, but essential from a circular economy perspective.

Another level of complexity comes from the fact that the system is multi-stakeholder. The resource is managed by public entities, network operators, businesses, and local authorities, often with territorial logics. And there is no integrated national governance. Other major infrastructure – transport, gas, electricity – has a centralised management system with local branches. Water, on the other hand, is still fragmented. But this fragmentation, while justified by the “local” nature of the resource, today represents more of a limitation than an advantage.

In your opinion, what is the level of awareness and commitment of institutions – both Italian and international – towards sustainable water management? Are we doing enough?

Over the years, awareness has grown. There have been moments of great attention, especially before the pandemic, when there was a lot of talk about public water governance, recycling, and sustainable agricultural use. However, we are talking about patchy attention. Unfortunately, in Italy – but not only here – interest in these issues follows a cyclical trend, linked to an emergency situation. When Rome runs out of water or there is a major flood, the spotlight is turned on. Then, once the peak has passed, everything is forgotten.

The problem is that the necessary interventions – containment basins, network modernisation, and water planning – require long-term programming and political continuity. But intermittent interest makes it difficult to allocate resources in the long run. And so we delay, we postpone, we waste time. At the moment, I do not believe that sustainable water management is at the top of the political agenda – and this is a serious problem.

How important is it to have a clear Purpose in Water Management and how strategic is training in this area? In particular, what is POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s educational approach and what are the distinctive features of your Master in Water Management?

In the water sector, having a clear Purpose is essential. Water has a huge impact on all vital systems: on the environment, on health, on the economy. Yet all too often, it is treated as a commodity, not as a resource to be protected. On the other hand, water waste, dispersion, and management inefficiency are problems that have enormous consequences, far beyond the economic sphere. And addressing them requires a broad, responsible vision, oriented towards the common good.

Our Master in Water Management was born from this awareness. Our educational approach is based on two main principles. The first is the integrated vision of the water cycle: we train professionals to understand all the phases of the process, from supply to purification. Today, the system is often managed “in blocks”, with fragmented skills. Our goal is to create professionals who can hold together the big picture and the operational details.

The second guideline is innovation. The industry is in dire need of digital technologies, new processes, and more modern, data-driven management. We are talking about digitalisation, but also about technological solutions for efficiency, monitoring and the predictive maintenance of networks. Our Master prepares professionals to adopt real innovation, helping to build a more sustainable, resilient and future-oriented water system.