Brussels, 24/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Much remains to be done to improve water quality and better manage this resource in the EU, European Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella stressed at the 4th European Water Conference which took place in Brussels on Monday 23 March. Organised on the occasion of World Water Day and European Water Day, the conference coincided with the conclusion of the first cycle of implementation of the framework directive on water (Directive 2000/60/EC) which has just been the subject of a Commission report (see EUROPE 11271). The conference provided the perfect occasion for taking stock of the situation and shaping guidelines for the new EU policy which will make water a priority and integrate it in all relevant sectoral policies, the commissioner said.
“With our water policy we have developed a dynamic, world-leading water sector. But there is no room for complacency. … This year, 2015, is the time limit set in the water framework directive for bringing all EU waters back to a good status. But, already in 2012 we realised we'd be able to meet this deadline with only half of our water bodies. And that is indeed the case today - 53% of our water bodies are now in good environmental state”, Vella stated. Progress has been made but it is not good enough. “We need to step up our action to get to our original goal as quickly as possible. It is time to reinforce existing rules and come up with new ones to fill any gaps”, he warned. The preparation currently taking place on river basin management plans and the first flood risk management plans that member states have to submit by 22 December 2015 provide an “excellent opportunity”, he said.
To improve river basins, the commissioner wants the member states to redouble their efforts and: - improve the monitoring and assessment of water status; - shift attention from general into more specific problems, such as, the need to “address and come up with better efforts on pollution from agriculture, which affects 90% of river basins”; - remove and rectify man-made pressures on water bodies to restore the aquatic environment and its ecosystems; - address the issue of water scarcity which “remains an issue, and not just in the South”, with water extraction being controlled; - pay more attention to the principle of cost recovery, “possibly applying water pricing or other ways to incentivise an efficient use of water”; - integrate water management into other policies, as advocated by the 2015 report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on the state of and outlook for the environment in Europe (see EUROPE 11268 and 11266).
“I will be working with my fellow Commissioners to mainstream it into every EU policy”, assured Vella, calling on all member states to do likewise and “put water on their priority list”. Most important, however, in the commissioner's view is for the member states to “implement better, and with more urgency, the EU's existing water legislation”. (Aminata Niang)