This work aimed to establish the taxonomic status of six strains (A212-S19-A16T, A127-S21-F16, A105-S21-F16, A104-S21-F16, A101-S19-F16 and A35-S23-M15) isolated from three different waterways in 2015 and 2016 in south-east France. Amplification and sequencing of the gapA housekeeping gene clustered these six strains together inside the genus Pectobacterium outside of already described or proposed Pectobacterium species and supspecies. Phenotypic analysis, using GENIII Biolog plates performed with strains A212-S19-A16T, A105-S21-F16, A101-S19-F16 and the closely related Pectobacterium polaris (CFBP 1403), Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. odoriferum (CFBP 1878T), ‘ Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. actinidiae’ (CFBP 7370), Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (CFBP 2046T), ‘ Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense ’ (CFBP 6617) or the most distantly related Pectobacterium aroidearum (CFBP 8168T) failed to identify specific compounds metabolized by these three strains, but weak activity was specifically observed at pH 5 with these three strains. Illumina sequencing was used to sequence these six strains. Based on phylogenetic data, average nucleotide identity values and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization results, strains A212-S19-A16T, A127-S21-F16, A105-S21-F16, A101-S19-F16, A35-S23-M15 and A104-S21-F16 are suggested to represent a novel species of the genus Pectobacterium , for which the name Pectobacterium aquaticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A212-S19-A16 T (=CFBP 8637T=NCPPB 4640T).