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PRESS RELEASE (Brussels, 18 July, 2007) - The European Environmental Bureau and WWF criticised the initial policy options to tackle the threat of water scarcity and drought, presented by the European Commission today, for not adequately addressing agricultural water use, which is a major contributor to the problem. According to official figures, farming is one of the thirstiest users, and is responsible for 44 % of all water abstracted in Europe, and over 67% in southern Europe. But the real picture is often worse: illegal, unregulated and unmetered water abstraction is rife. For example, in Spain up to 45% of all groundwater pumped to irrigate crops, golf courses and urban developments, is taken illegally. Agricultural water-users are rarely charged the full cost of their water. There are also various explicit and implicit subsidies which privilege agriculture over industrial and domestic users. Today there are few incentives to make farmers use water efficiently. "The Commission is right to support charging the right price for water," said Pieter de Pous from EEB. "But it's ignoring whether we should continue to grow water-hungry crops in places where water is increasingly scarce. What we really need is radically different water management. If the Water Framework Directive is robustly enforced we could achieve just that." Historically, the answer to water scarcity has been to tap new sources of supply, building more dams, drilling deeper, piping water from ever more remote locations. As the environmental and social costs of this approach mount up, it seems increasingly clear that boosting the water supply is not increasing our water security "We strongly support the hierarchy of measures suggested by the European Commission: to consider demand management before opting for additional water infrastructures," said Sergey Moroz of WWF. "Building reservoirs, desalination plants and river basin transfers shouldn't even be on the agenda until it can be proven that alternative measures have been exploited. Discussing supply-side measures like 'making water' in desalination plants diverts attention from cheaper and more environmentally-friendly alternatives, which are widely available, such as water conservation, water-use efficiency improvements and water recycling". Notes for editors:- Drought and Water Scarcity Drought is a normal, recurrent event, but is often wrongly seen as an unexpected and extraordinary development. Owing to climate change, rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall in many parts of the world are increasing the frequency and severity of droughts. Drought should be differentiated from other events linked to water deficit, such as water scarcity. Water scarcity is a permanent characteristic of chronic water deficit as a result of human water demand and activities. Peter Clarke, EEB Press & Publications Officer: press@eeb.org; Tel: +32 (0)2 289 1309 Sergey Moroz, WWF European Policy Office: smoroz@wwfepo.org; Tel: +32 (0)2 740 0923; Mobile: +32 (0)499 539 734 See also:- "Desalination - option or distraction for a thirsty world?" (June 2007)
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