Manuela Helmecke was born in Berlin, Germany. She studied Geography (B.Sc.) at Humboldt University Berlin, followed by a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Sciences, specialised in Integrated Water Resources Management, at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Afterwards she worked as a trainee and consultant in a GIZ-project related to Climate Change Adaptation in the Water Sector in Cairo, Egypt.
In December 2015 she joined the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), Section II 2.1 – General Aspects of Water and Soil. Since then she has been involved in the processes related to the EU Regulation on Water Reuse and its national implementation.