Weltwassertag: Mitgliedstaaten tun nicht genug für Wasserqualität[en] 

The theme of this year's World Water Day, organised by the United Nations on 22 March 2007 is 'Coping with water scarcity'.

The European Commission is organising a conference to take stock of progress made by member states in implementing the large body of European legislation on clean water.

Member states have come a long way in improving water-quality standards since the first European directives were introduced 30 years ago, the Commission said on 22 March to mark World Water Day. 

But more needs to be done if the EU is to achieve its objective of reaching "good quality" status for all European waters, as laid down in the EU's Water Framework Directive by 2015.

"While the results of the report are mixed, it is clear that member states must do more to achieve the directive's objective," the Commission said in a statement. 

In a series of reports, the Commission took stock of progress made in implementing EU directives on water quality.

• Nitrate pollution from agriculture

17% of sites monitored between 2000 and 2003 under the Nitrates Directive showed concentrations above the 50mg per litre threshold with the overall trend stable for 64% of sites, according to the Commission progress report. However, it said "considerable further work" was needed to improve action programmes at national level.

The highest nitrogen surpluses were found in the Netherlands and Belgium,  with concentrations higher than 150 kg per hectare. Similar levels were also found in Brittany (France) and Vechta Cloppenburg (Lower Saxony, Germany). Low surpluses were found in Spain (Catalonia), Italy (Lombardia) and the UK (Nothern Ireland, Wales and West England).

Implementation of the directive remains "incomplete in a number of member states", the Commission notes, saying that "pollution trends vary considerably across the European Union".

• Urban waste water

The Commission estimates that only 51% of all treatment plants in municipalities located in the 'older' EU-15 countries currently meet the standards laid down in the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, adopted in 2000.

Denmark, Germany and Austria received the highest marks, with a compliance rate close to 100%, closely followed by the Netherlands. However, the Commission said that implementation was "not a successful across all member states", with 444 agglomerations in Spain and Italy which have "not reported at all" or failed to do so in the required time-frame. 

On other accounts, inadequate waste-water treatment was recorded mainly for agglomerations in the Mediterranean, Ireland, UK, France and Belgium. "Significant amounts of wastewater are still discharged without the necessary level of treatment," the Commission said.

As for the newest EU members, the Commission says they face "significant challenges" to align themselves with the directive, although most were given ten extra years to comply, until 2015.

Overall, waste water discharges and nitrates pollution from agricultural origin are seen as "one of the key challenges for water protection across Europe".

• Water Framework Directive

Despite member states being on time with progress reports, the Commission notes "major deficiencies" including "poor quality of national laws" in 19 member states and the "inconsistency" of data submitted. Pricing policies have equally not yet been introduced to reflect the true costs – including environmental – of water usage by agriculture and industry.

"Water prices paid by households, industry and agriculture are in many cases not known," notes the Commission. "When these prices are reported, agriculture tends to pay significantly less than other sectors."

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on 22 March, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas hailed the Danube region as "a striking example of how much good co-operation and vision could bring". "The fact that 13 countries, not all of them members of the European Union, are successfully implementing the Directive is remarkable. I congratulate them for their success."

But he also deplored what he said was the poor transposition of the Water Framework Directive. "At least 19 member states will have to rework their national laws to bring them into conformity with the Directive," Dimas said. According to the Commission, implementation records are "from worst to better": Italy, Greece, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Pricing policies are also uneven, with agriculture often paying less for their water than households or industry. "Water is fast becoming a scarce resource. We must make sure that all users use water as efficiently as possible," Dimas added.

Portuguese Environment Minister Francisco Nunes Correia said that water scarcity and drought will be one of the priorities of the Portuguese EU Presidency in the second half of 2007.

"We think that these extreme events should be looked at more carefully because their effects are spreading throughout Europe," Correia said, referring to "severe problems" now also recorded in Northern countries such as Finland and the UK, due in part to global warming.

A study released on 21 March by the European Environment Bureau (EEB), a federation of environmental NGOs, concluded that water-conservation measures offered good value for money. But it warned that poor implementation of EU directives was preventing member states to reap those benefits. 

"Clean and attractive coasts, rivers and lakes support major tourism and recreation activity, providing jobs and high turnover to hotels, restaurants, shops and transport," the EEB said. "In one case study, society's return on investment took just over a year, whereas government returns on investment take nearly ten years."