Drought and Water Overuse in Europe
Posted on: Monday, 16 March 2009, 23:00 CDT
The EEA report 'Water resources across
Excluding illegal water use,
"We are living beyond our means when it comes to water. The short-term
solution to water scarcity has been to extract ever greater amounts of water
from our surface and groundwater assets. Overexploitation is not sustainable.
It has a heavy impact on the quality and quantity of the remaining water as
well as the ecosystems which depend on it," said Professor
Key findings and recommendations
Shifting the management focus from increasing supply to minimising demand needs to involve various different policies and practices:
- In all sectors, including agriculture, water should be priced according to the volume used. - Governments should implement drought management plans more extensively and focus on risk rather than crisis management. - Water-intensive bioenergy crops should be avoided in areas of water scarcity. - A combination of crop selection and irrigation methods can substantially improve agricultural water efficiency if backed-up with farmer advisory programmes. National and EU funds including the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy can play an important role in promoting efficient and sustainable water use in agriculture. - Measures to raise public awareness, such as eco-labelling, eco-certification, education programmes in schools, are essential to realise sustainable water use. - Leakage in public water supply systems must be addressed. In parts of Europe, water loss via leakage can exceed 40 % of total supplies. - Illegal abstraction of water, often for agricultural use, is widespread in certain areas of Europe. Appropriate surveillance and a system of fines or penalties should be put in place to address the issue. - Authorities should create incentives for greater use of alternative water supplies, such as treated wastewater, greywater, and 'harvested' rainwater, to help reduce water stress. Overview of water use in
In
Across
Desalination has become a fast growing alternative to conventional
sources of water, particularly in water-stressed regions of
Notes to Editors
The report is available at http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/water-resources-across-europe/. The report will be presented to the press during the 5th World Water
Forum in
About the European Environment Agency (EEA)
The EEA is based in
SOURCE European Environment Agency
Source: PR Newswire
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