As water stress is intensifying, regulatory momentum for transparency may be pulling in the opposite direction. The EU Omnibus Proposal, unveiled earlier this year, introduces sweeping changes to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)—and with it, the way companies account for water.
At first glance, the proposal seems like a simplification: fewer companies required to report, longer timelines, and narrower supply chain expectations. But for businesses operating in a water-constrained world, these changes could deepen exposure to risk. Delayed detection of water stress, gaps in supply chain visibility, and weakened accountability mechanisms all jeopardize corporate resilience. In this new environment, compliance alone won’t cut it.
Global sustainability leaders tend to agree on one message: in today’s operating environment, compliance is the baseline. Companies that succeed are those who treat reporting as a strategic enabler, not a checkbox.
Quick Overview
The EU Omnibus Proposal aims to recalibrate certain sustainability reporting requirements. Some of the key proposed changes include:
Applying reporting only to companies with over 1,000 employees
Extending disclosure cycles from annually to every five years
Narrowing supply chain reporting to direct suppliers only
Easing enforcement mechanisms for supplier compliance
Reducing some water-related KPI requirements under the EU Taxonomy
The proposal is part of an ongoing dialogue across the EU about how to balance sustainability goals with business practicality. As with any regulatory shift, its impacts will vary by company size, sector, and geography.
What It Means for Water Risk Management
While reduced reporting frequency may streamline processes, it can also create longer intervals between risk assessments—especially when it comes to water. Water risks are highly localized, fast-changing, and often embedded deep in supply chains—making them especially vulnerable to data gaps. Less frequent or narrower reporting can quickly erode a company’s ability to detect, plan for, and respond to emerging threats, such as shifts in water availability, quality, or regulation.
Companies with supply chains in water-stressed regions may also find it more difficult to maintain visibility where it matters most. In many industries, from agriculture to food and beverage to textiles, water dependencies and risks are often embedded deeper in the value chain—not just among direct suppliers. For businesses in these sectors, voluntary data collection and advanced monitoring practices become even more important.
Proactive Companies Are Staying the Course
In this context, many companies are choosing to maintain or even accelerate their water stewardship efforts—regardless of whether they’re legally obligated to do so. These organizations recognize that strong water data and governance provide more than regulatory coverage—they enable smarter decisions and stronger resilience.
Some key areas for investment include:
Scenario planning across water-stressed geographies
Integration of water metrics into broader ESG and business strategies
Tools to monitor usage, quality, and risk in near real-time
Cross-functional engagement across operations, procurement, legal, and finance
Rather than pausing in light of regulatory change, these companies are using the moment to align internal systems and prepare for a range of possible futures.
Strengthening Internal Alignment
One challenge organizations consistently raise is the need for better alignment across departments. Water data is often fragmented—owned by different teams, tracked in different formats, or reported at different cadences. Bridging these silos is essential.
Leading companies are taking steps to:
Establish shared language across sustainability, operations, and finance
Create centralized platforms for water data and performance tracking
Link water risk to enterprise goals like continuity, cost efficiency, and reputation
Build partnerships with suppliers that focus on collaboration, not just compliance
The result is not only improved reporting readiness, but also stronger day-to-day management of water use and risk.
Where Technology Can Help
Technology is emerging as a vital bridge between dynamic risks, fragmented data, site-specific impacts and operation, strategy and reporting.
Many companies today face a familiar challenge: they’re capturing water data, but it's siloed, inconsistent, or too delayed to drive real decisions. Manual processes—such as meter readings logged on paper or spreadsheets—are time-consuming and prone to error. Site-level teams may have critical insights, but lack a streamlined way to share them across functions or up the chain.
This is where AI-powered technology can transform water data from a compliance task into a strategic asset. Used effectively, these tools enable companies to:
Automate data collection at the source, minimizing manual inputs while improving consistency and accuracy.
Generate near real-time visibility into usage, anomalies, and risk patterns, helping detect issues like leaks or abnormal consumption before they escalate.
Centralize water-related metrics across all facilities, enabling sustainability and operations teams to collaborate through a shared, verified source of truth.
Benchmark performance across locations and prioritize interventions, allocating resources to where they’ll have the most impact.
Streamline alignment with multiple disclosure standards, ensuring that data collected once can serve multiple reporting obligations with minimal rework.
Enhance governance and traceability, embedding audit-ready processes and documentation that support both internal and external oversight.
When scaled across a company’s global footprint, a digital water platform creates a dynamic view of enterprise water use—one that connects site-level behavior to basin-level risk, and operational actions to corporate goals. It supports not only disclosures, but the decisions that precede them: where to invest in water reuse, when to engage with suppliers, or how to prioritize capital improvements.
That said, technology isn’t a substitute for strategic thinking—it’s a multiplier of it. The most effective organizations pair these tools with strong governance, domain expertise, and an internal culture of shared responsibility. Data must be verified, contextualized, and translated into action. When this happens, digital tools stop being reporting utilities and start becoming drivers of real impact.
Steps Companies Can Take Now
As the regulatory environment continues to evolve, many sustainability and compliance teams are asking: what should we do next?
A few steps can help organizations stay prepared and resilient:
Update materiality assessments to reflect today’s water conditions and business context.
Map water risks across the full value chain, even beyond what’s required.
Strengthen data infrastructure to enable timely, site-specific insights.
Engage cross-functionally, ensuring alignment between ESG goals and business priorities.
Stay connected to evolving disclosure frameworks, including CSRD, CDP, ISSB, and TNFD.
For many companies, this is also a moment to participate in policy discussions—sharing their experience, needs, and capabilities to help shape practical and effective reporting standards.
Looking Ahead: Building Resilience Through Water Stewardship
While the EU Omnibus Proposal may reduce certain regulatory obligations, it doesn’t reduce the importance of water. If anything, the growing frequency of droughts, floods, and resource pressures makes water stewardship more relevant than ever.
Companies that proactively invest in understanding their water use, risks, and dependencies will be better equipped to adapt—regardless of how the regulatory landscape evolves. And as disclosure frameworks around the world begin to converge, those with robust systems already in place will be able to respond with confidence, clarity, and credibility.
At Waterplan, we believe the future of water management is about visibility, accountability, and strategic action. Whether you’re responding to a new regulation or planning for long-term resilience, we’re here to support you in translating data into impact.
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