The short answer. The revised Industrial Emissions Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1785 or “IED 2.0”, entered into force on 4 August 2024, and member states had until 1 July 2026 to transpose it. For water, the biggest change is that consumption becomes a permit condition, not just a good intention. Permits must now contain binding quantitative resource efficiency requirements for materials, water and energy, where appropriate. Where BAT conclusions set water performance levels, those levels are written into the permit as numeric conditions.
The directive also makes an environmental management system (EMS) mandatory and pushes emission limit values to the strictest achievable level. The worst infringements carry fines of at least 3% of a company’s annual EU turnover.
The practical consequence: before your next permit review, you need a reliable site water balance and a water performance figure you can defend. If either is missing, or built on estimates rather than measurements, now is the time to fix it.
Who IED 2.0 covers
About 37,000 industrial installations across the EU fall under IED 2.0, according to the European Commission. In the Netherlands, the implementing bill puts the figure at around 5,000 installations, including power plants, chemical companies, waste processors, solvent installations and large pig and poultry farms.
The revision also brings new activities into scope, including battery manufacturing above 15,000 tonnes of cells per year, the extraction and processing of ores such as lithium and nickel, hydrogen production by electrolysis above 50 tonnes per day, pyrolysis, and textile finishing. If your site carries out an activity listed in Annex I of the directive above its capacity threshold, assume the water provisions apply to you.
What changes for water
The directive separates several kinds of BAT-based permit condition, and they do not carry the same legal weight. Knowing which is which tells you where you have room to manoeuvre and where you do not. The legal basis is Article 15(4) of the amended directive: competent authorities must set environmental performance limit values concerning water, and indicative performance levels for waste and other resources, within the binding ranges laid down in the BAT conclusions. An authority can set less strict values only in specific cases, and only if that causes no significant environmental impact, including depletion of water resources.
| Condition | What it covers | How it applies in your permit |
|---|---|---|
| Emission levels (BAT-AELs) | Pollutants in your discharge or emissions | Binding. The authority sets the strictest limit your installation can achieve within the BAT range, and you must justify anything less strict. |
| Environmental performance levels for water | Water consumption, for example per tonne of product | Binding. Set as a numeric permit condition. |
| Environmental performance levels for waste and resources | Waste prevention, reuse, material use | A binding range plus an indicative target. |
| Benchmarks | Indicative performance where data is incomplete | Not binding. Tracked through your EMS. |
Two further points matter for anyone discharging industrial wastewater. First, limit values must now be set for any relevant pollutant likely to be emitted in significant quantities, even where the BAT conclusions give no emission level, and that includes substances of emerging concern. Second, because limits default to the strictest achievable value, “we meet the upper end of the BAT range” is no longer a safe position. The burden of showing why a stricter value is not achievable now sits with the operator.
Your environmental management system: duties and dates
Every industrial installation under IED 2.0 must run an EMS that covers resource efficiency, including water, and the prevention of hazardous substance use. Relevant parts must be published, and a conformity assessment body or accredited verifier must audit the system.
Under the directive, existing installations must have their EMS in place by 1 July 2027. National implementing laws do not all follow that date: Germany’s January 2026 draft bill, for example, gave existing plants until 1 July 2030, in line with the Commission’s proposed Environmental Omnibus. Energy-intensive installations must also add a transformation plan to their EMS by 30 June 2030.
The EMS is where your water data lives. If the figures in it are estimates rather than measurements, they will not hold up when the permit sets a numeric water condition.
Where the Netherlands stands
In Dutch, the directive is the Richtlijn industriële emissies (RIE). The implementing bill, wetsvoorstel 36864, amends the Omgevingswet, the Wet milieubeheer and the Wet belastingen op milieugrondslag. It was submitted on 25 November 2025 and adopted by the Tweede Kamer on 16 June 2026, with 117 votes in favour. The bill is now before the Eerste Kamer, whose committee began its written review in July 2026. Much of the operational detail will follow in lower regulation.
Two things are still moving at EU level. The Commission published a Q&A notice on implementing IED 2.0 on 14 September 2026, and its Environmental Omnibus proposal (COM(2025)986) could change some provisions. Our advice: plan to the directive’s requirements now, and confirm dates and conditions with your competent authority, whether that is your omgevingsdienst, waterschap or Rijkswaterstaat.
How to build a permit-ready water position
Most of the guidance we reviewed stops before this point. A binding water condition is only manageable if you can measure your performance the way the permit will, and know your options before the authority sets the number.
- Close the whole-site water balance. Account for every external inflow (mains, groundwater, surface water), every outflow (discharge, evaporation, product, haulage) and the change in storage. Keep internal recycle separate so it is not counted twice. If the balance does not close within a few percent, fix the metering before anything else. Our free Industrial Whole-Site Water Balance tool shows the structure.
- Use the metric your BAT conclusions use. Performance levels are expressed per unit of output, such as cubic metres per tonne of product, and the definition matters. Check which BAT conclusions apply to your activity and calculate your figure exactly as they define it.
- Baseline over a representative period. Include cleaning cycles, product changeovers, start-ups and seasonal peaks. A figure built from a good month will not survive an audit.
- Compare against the range, and look at the low end. Find where you sit within the performance range for your sector. Given the strictest-achievable principle for emissions, assume the authority will also look hard at where you sit on water.
- Rank your options in the right order. Start with source reduction and stream segregation, then direct reuse, then treatment for reuse. Minimum or zero liquid discharge comes last, and only where the evidence justifies it. Our MLD vs ZLD Decision Screener helps test that last step. To see when reuse makes sense, see our water reuse feasibility service.
Worked example: why water efficiency creates a brine problem
The figures below are hypothetical and chosen to show the method. They are not BAT values for any sector.
A plant takes in 400,000 m³ of water a year and produces 80,000 tonnes of product, so it uses 5.0 m³ per tonne. Suppose the applicable performance range tops out at 4.0 m³ per tonne. To get there, the site must cut intake by 80,000 m³ a year.
The team decides to recover that water from rinse and cooling tower blowdown with reverse osmosis running at 75% recovery:
- Feed needed: 80,000 / 0.75 = about 106,700 m³ a year
- Concentrate produced: about 26,700 m³ a year
- Salt concentration in the concentrate: about four times the feed, because the concentration factor is 1 / (1 – 0.75) = 4 for salts the membrane rejects
Whether 75% recovery is achievable depends on the feed chemistry. Silica, calcium sulphate and other scaling compounds often set the practical limit for blowdown and rinse streams, so screen them before fixing a recovery target. Our Industrial Wastewater Scaling & Concentration Tool helps with that first check. Our guide to RO reject water covers reuse options for the concentrate.
The water target is met, but the site now has a smaller, saltier stream that still needs a lawful route. If the current discharge permit was written for the original, more dilute effluent, that concentrate may not fit it, especially if it carries substances of concern. This is why a water efficiency plan and a brine management plan need to be designed together, not one after the other.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating the EMS as paperwork. Under IED 2.0, the data in it feeds binding permit conditions.
- Measuring intake only. Without the outflows and storage, you cannot show where water is lost or where reuse is possible.
- Ignoring cleaning and peak loads. Average figures understate the capacity your reuse or treatment system actually needs.
- Assuming reuse is free. Every reuse step produces a concentrate with its own cost and permit implications.
- Waiting for the permit review. Once the authority proposes a number, your room to shape it is much smaller.
How Brine Consulting can help
We are an independent industrial water advisory based in Amsterdam, and we sell no treatment equipment. For IED installations we can close your site water balance, calculate your water performance against the applicable BAT conclusions, identify the reuse and segregation options that move the number, and show what each option means for your brine and discharge route, before you commit to any technology. Our expert network includes specialists in industrial wastewater, water reuse and water efficiency audits.
Frequently asked questions
Does IED 2.0 apply to my site?
It applies if your installation carries out an activity listed in Annex I of the directive above the stated capacity thresholds. The revision added activities such as battery manufacturing, ore extraction and hydrogen production by electrolysis, so sites that were outside the old directive may now be inside it.
Are water consumption limits binding now?
The directive requires binding resource efficiency requirements in permits, and water performance levels from BAT conclusions are set as numeric conditions. In practice, they arrive in your permit when it is reconsidered after new BAT conclusions for your sector are published, and installations generally have four years from that publication to comply. The timing therefore depends on your sector and your authority.
When must our environmental management system be in place?
Under the directive, existing installations must have it by 1 July 2027. Check your national implementing law, because some member states have proposed later dates in line with the Commission’s Environmental Omnibus proposal.
Has the Netherlands transposed IED 2.0?
The Dutch implementing bill, wetsvoorstel 36864, was adopted by the Tweede Kamer on 16 June 2026 and is now before the Eerste Kamer, with detailed rules to follow in lower regulation. Confirm the current status and dates with your competent authority.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
For the most serious infringements by companies, fines of at least 3% of annual EU turnover. People can also claim compensation for health damage caused by illegal pollution.
Does water reuse help us meet the new requirements?
Yes, reuse is one of the main ways to lower your water figure. Plan for the concentrate it produces at the same time, because that stream still needs a compliant route.
How this guide was prepared
This guide is based on the text of Directive (EU) 2024/1785, the European Commission’s IED 2.0 pages, Dutch parliamentary documents for bill 36864 and national competent-authority guidance, all checked on 22 October 2026. It explains the rules for planning purposes and is not legal advice. Confirm the conditions for your installation with your competent authority.
Sources
- EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1785, including the new Article 15
- European Commission: Industrial and Livestock Rearing Emissions Directive (IED 2.0)
- Environment and Resources Authority, Malta: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1785, presentation, April 2026
- Tweede Kamer: Wetsvoorstel 36864, Wet implementatie herziene Richtlijn industriële emissies
- Eerste Kamer: Implementatie herziening Richtlijn industriële emissies (36.864)
- NJB: Wetsvoorstel strengere emissienormen
- Jones Day: Industrial Emissions Directive 2.0 briefing, January 2026
Written by the Brine Consulting advisory team. The Brine Consulting advisory practice includes Osis G. Kalache, P.Eng., a senior wastewater process engineer with more than 17 years in industrial wastewater treatment and process optimization, and Cesar J.M. Chu Ortega, a water-tech strategist with expertise in water reuse, zero liquid discharge and industrial wastewater treatment. Meet our experts.