The European Commission is setting up a Water Resilience Strategy for an improved management of EU freshwater and marine waters, after releasing its annual reports on the status of water in the bloc.
The Commission released reports on the Water Framework Directive, the Floods Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive for a better snapshot of the current state of European water management. Following the reports, Commission released several recommendations for member states and will engage in dialogues for projects to improve the current situation. Later in the year, the Commission plan to release the Water Resilience Strategy “to address these challenges in an integrated way, enhancing sustainability, security and competitiveness,” said Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall.
“Our waters face significant challenges, from pollution and water supply threats to insufficient flood preparedness. We must boost our efforts to build water resilience. A clean and reliable water supply is essential for citizens, for our environment and for businesses to thrive,” added Roswall presenting the reports.
The Water Framework Directive Implementation Report showed positive work in knowledge and monitoring of water sources, but work is need for better quality and quantity. According to the report, only 39.5% of EU surface water bodies achieved good ecological status, and only 26.8% achieved good chemical status, due to contamination from pollutants. Drought is also a growing concern across the bloc, with Spain in particular being at risk.
Another environmental-related issue tackled by the reports is floods. The catastrophic event happens more and more across the EU. The report on floods management recommends ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions to tackle the issues. However, it noted that member states are failing to make quantitive assessments of their floods risk management, even though an alignment in good practices is happening.
Finally, the report on Marine Strategy noted limited improvements to the relevant directive, particularly relating to marine litter. The EU is advising member states to implement higher projects to protect and restore marine biodiversity and reduce pollution.
