Italy's Water Giants Are Joining Forces

ABC Napoli and Acquedotto Pugliese forge a landmark data-sharing pact to cut leaks and digitize southern Italy's water networks

14 Apr 2026

Southern Italy's water sector just got serious. In March 2026, ABC Napoli and Acquedotto Pugliese signed a formal Collaboration Protocol, launching a structured partnership to share technology, operational data, and investment planning across their combined networks.

Five priorities anchor the deal: reducing water losses through smarter maintenance, scaling digital and IoT infrastructure, strengthening climate resilience, improving energy efficiency, and coordinating on national regulatory reform. Cross-organizational working groups will drive delivery, backed by a continuous exchange of performance data and engineering benchmarks.

Both utilities already have digital programs underway. Acquedotto Pugliese is on track to install 400,000 smart meters by the end of 2026. ABC Napoli, meanwhile, is building a city-wide monitoring platform to detect leaks and optimize distribution in real time. The protocol gives each operator a formal channel to leverage the other's momentum, closing the gap between parallel investments and accelerating the rollout of proven solutions at scale.

Aqua Publica Europea welcomed the agreement as a model of public-public cooperation in the European water sector. That framing carries weight. The partnership lets both operators build economies of scale, share innovation, and engage regulators as a unified voice without any private sector intermediation. In a European policy environment where the independence of public water governance is a live debate, that distinction is more than symbolic.

The stakes are high. Southern Italy faces some of the continent's sharpest drought and water loss pressures, and the region's infrastructure has long lagged behind northern Europe. By pooling over two centuries of combined operational expertise, the two utilities are making a pointed argument: large-scale water digitalization does not require private capital to move. With the EU's Drinking Water Directive continuing to press member states on smart metering and leakage targets, this partnership may be the clearest signal yet that Italy's public water sector is ready to lead.