European rivers and lakes are chemically polluted, water security in danger

Only 37% of Europe’s lakes and rivers meet the criteria for good ecological status and over two-thirds are affected by excessive levels of chemical pollutants, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns in a report published today.

Moreover, nearly a quarter of groundwater, which supplies two-thirds of Europe’s drinking water, failed to reach the legal threshold for good chemical status, with nitrates and pesticides from agriculture responsible for significant pollution.

The EEA concluded that Europe is facing “serious challenges to water security” – a warning that comes eight months after the European Commission shelved a planned water resilience initiative intended to tackle the increasing water stress that the EU environment watchdog says now affects 20% of EU territory and 30% of its population.

“While these stats are alarming, they're not even giving the full picture as it's only assessed against a limited and outdated list of pollutants,” said Sara Johansson, a specialist in water pollution prevention at the European Environmental Bureau.

Under the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD), governments are required to ensure – besides some exceptions under extenuating circumstances – that all surface and groundwater achieve good status with regards both chemical pollution and ecosystem health by 2027.

Today’s report follows an equally dire assessment of water quality the EEA published in 2019, and suggests that little progress has been made despite the looming deadline. Green groups have reacted by redoubling a call for the EU executive to ensure that existing legislation is enforced, including new requirements in the Nature Restoration Law.

“Restoring at least 25,000 km of rivers to their free-flowing state is not just an environmental necessity: it’s a commitment to biodiversity and our future,” said Andras Krolopp, head of biodiversity policy at The Nature Conservancy Europe, referring also to a UN treaty that is the subject of a global summit later this month. “Europe has a global commitment under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nature Restoration Law to achieve this goal.”

As well as the ongoing problem of pollution and obstruction of Europe’s natural waterways, industry bodies this week raised the alarm about the huge investment that will be needed to tackle the growing problem of water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change.

Water Europe – a trade association representing researchers and manufacturers of water purification and management technology – published on Monday (14 October) a study suggesting that €255 billion will need to be invested over the next six years to ensure compliance with EU legislation

The lobby group’s director Durk Krol said the investment was essential if the EU was to meet its Green Deal and industrial goals. “Our aim with this study is to provide actionable insights on how we can secure water availability for both nature and economic activities, paving the way towards a Water-Smart Society,” he said.

Meanwhile, a raft of 13 companies, including Siemens, Suez and Veolia, meanwhile, issued a joint statement calling on EU policy makers to deploy digital technologies to harmonise a “highly fragmented” water management landscape that that makes it more difficult to implement the WFD and other directive on drinking water, waste water, industrial emissions and flood prevention.

“[T]here is currently a shortage of reliable data and lack of measurement at EU level, for example on issues such as water leakage – which in turn leads to a lack of insights on which specific actions to pursue,” they write.

In her mission letter to EU commissioner designate for environment Jessica Roswall, president Ursula von der Leyen has tasked tasked her with finalizing the overdue resilience strategy.

“This strategy will address water efficiency, scarcity, pollution and water related risk. It will aim to enhance the competitive innovative edge of our water industry, develop clean tech, take a circular economy approach and include proposal to digitalise water management, cycles and utilities,” von der Leyen wrote.