water
[Comment] A dry future without water
Next year the commission
will present a "Blueprint to Safeguard
European Waters" (Photo: Notat)
JANEZ POTOCNIK
Today @ 08:48 CET
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - Today is World
Water Day. And who doesn't need water? Good
quality water is vital, not just for drinking
but for nature too. It is also a vital
ingredient of many economic activities such
as agriculture, food and energy production,
tourism, and in the manufacture of everyday
goods.
Only a tiny proportion of our blue planet's
water is freshwater. So it's vital to use it
efficiently. And even in Europe, the future
availability of water is by no means
guaranteed. This is the thinking behind World
Water Day, a day to celebrate this most
precious of all natural resources, and a good
day to take stock of the many pressures
facing our water resources, in the EU and
around the globe.
And we need to take stock because water is
under pressure like never before - especially
in our cities. This is why this year's World
Water Day has an urban focus. Cities make up
only two per cent of the earth's surface and
yet they are home to half the world's
population. The urban population is said to
be growing by two people every second. This
growth is undermining whatever progress we
make in making sure that the some of the
poorest parts of the world have access to
water and sanitation.
Climate change is adding to the pressure,
by increasing water scarcity, droughts and
floods. Over the past ten years Europe has
suffered more than 175 major floods with
resulting death, displacement and significant
economic loss, which some estimate as high as
100 billion.
Yet we continue to waste it. Experts say
that 20-40% of Europe's available water is
lost through leaks in the supply system,
dripping taps and unsustainable irrigation.
This is a leak that needs fixing
urgently.
The solutions need to be found at many
levels. Within the EU, a Water Framework is
in place to manage Europe's waters through
its natural 'river basins'. Water managers,
the sectors affected and the public can
cooperate to safeguard ground and surface
waters. Member States assess the main
problems for each river basin district and
identify the specific measures needed to
achieve environmental quality objectives. We
want to get good status' for all
European waters by 2015.
It's a tough challenge, and although the
main legislation is already in place, the EU
needs to deal with those emerging challenges
I have already mentioned. That's why, next
year, the Commission will present a "Blueprint
to Safeguard European Waters", aimed at
ensuring there is enough good quality water
to go round.
The Blueprint will encourage a move
towards what we call 'prevention and
preparedness'. The thinking is that this will
ensure a sustainable balance between water
demand and supply, taking into account the
needs of both humans and natural ecosystems.
It's likely to give us the first
indications for water efficiency targets at
EU level, taking into account the great
variety of different contexts across economic
sectors and geographical areas. All of this
will not be possible of course until we are
able to measure the gap between water demand
and water availability over the next ten to
forty years.. To that end, the European
Environment Agency is now working on water
and ecosystem accounts, which will give us
the information on which we can base our EU
targets.
The Blueprint is broad and ambitious. It
will set out measures that can be widely
introduced across the EU. Things like green
infrastructure, for example, which could
include the reforestation or the restoration
of floodplains, soil management and
sustainable urban drainage systems. And it
will create incentives to avoid wastage and
encourage investment in innovative
technologies as well as improving water
efficiency and addressing issues such as
pricing, taxation and the removal of harmful
subsidies.
But World Water Day is not just about
Europe. It is a global celebration, and the
availability of water is a cause of global
concern. It is most pressing in developing
countries, where cities gain an average of
five million residents every month. Recent
studies show that competing global demands
for scarce water resources could lead to an
estimated 40% supply shortage by 2030.
Predicted population growth will increase the
pressures on water availability and food and
energy production. The Blueprint will
reinforce our commitment to helping to deal
with these pressures as well as the
achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals on access to drinking water and
sanitation.
Water is then a local, national,
international and global issue of the most
pressing kind. We are working hard to apply
ourselves internationally where we can and as
demand for water continues to rise in Europe,
we will need to ensure that other 'water-reliant'
policy areas agriculture, regional,
energy, industrial, transport and research
policies all have the philosophy of water
protection, saving and efficiency built-in.
There is another level of course
the
individual level. And here we can all play
our part by thinking about how we use our
water. Because if we don't, we could be
looking at a pretty tough, dry future.
The writer is European Commissioner for
the Environment