‘Water scarcity and structural investments in access to water in the EU’ - a subject added to the agenda of the European Parliament’s plenary session at the request of MEPs - saw the European Commission unveil, on the evening of Tuesday 17 October, the broad outlines of the initiative on water resilience, scheduled in its work programme for the first quarter of 2024.
In front of an almost empty Chamber, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said that in view of “the visible signs of water stress in Europe” and the changing global water cycle, with longer droughts followed by floods in some regions, a phenomenon “exacerbated by climate change”, a different approach was needed.
In his view, “the very first European climate risk assessment, which will take place in spring 2024, will certainly remind us of this reality and of the need to act in line with the EU’s adaptation strategy”.
The water resilience initiative will involve “a systemic transformation of the way water is managed, used and valued, constantly bearing in mind the need to protect nature and ecosystems”, he said.
Major water users such as energy, industry, transport and agriculture will have to do more to integrate water efficiency and protection into their daily practices.
Pointing out that demand for water is increasing in certain sectors and denouncing unacceptable levels of water leakage in water supply systems, the Commissioner said: “Efficiency first must now apply to water, while ensuring that it remains affordable for all”.
The initiative will also cover water pricing - provided for in the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), but for which “the pricing instruments have not been used in 20 years”, deplored the Commissioner.
In addition to legislation, he called for more EU investment in water and sanitation, which needs to increase from the current €86 billion per year, according to the OECD, to €255 billion by 2030.
“When we talk about investment in water infrastructure, we are talking about must investments, including in research and innovation, to protect river basins, which are the first natural barrier against drought and must be able to absorb water and replenish water tables”, insisted the Commissioner.
Between 2021 and 2027, some €13 billion of cohesion funds will have been invested in water services.
“We must do more to ensure that the right to clean, drinkable water as a human right is a reality throughout the EU”, he added. In 2014, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) Right2Water called for water services to be excluded from liberalisation (see EUROPE 11020/21) - an option not chosen by the Commission in the Drinking Water Directive (EU 2020/2184), with which it responded to the ECI.
To MEPs concerned about the situation in Mayotte, the Commissioner replied that special attention would be paid to the outermost regions, and that the EU was already allocating €47.5 million to Mallorca to invest in water supply infrastructure.
On behalf of the EU Council, Spain’s acting minister for the EU, Pascual Navarro Ríos, recalled that the United Nations Water Conference last March had “stressed that water is essential for people, for nature and for regulating the climate, that it is crucial for protecting public health, enhancing biodiversity and strengthening food security, and that it also plays a vital role in the economy, energy production and agriculture”.
At global level, the EU must, in his view, “respect the promises of the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal” and, at European level, “continue to apply a sustainable policy, continue to improve the quality of water in our rivers in order to achieve good water status by 2030 at the latest, and fully apply the Drinking Water Directive”, which most EU countries have not transposed (see EUROPE 13150/32, 13098/28).
The Member States must above all continue to invest in improving the availability and safety of drinking water, said the minister. “Technological innovation plays a major role in guiding these investments, which must be profitable and must also take account of emerging pollutants, endocrine disrupters, pharmaceutical products and cosmetic product residue”, he added. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)