Tag: water scarcity

By 2025 half the world’s population will not have enough water to meet its needs, warns Rashad Kaldany, urging governments and the private sector to work on solutions, which he says, do exist.

The European Commission is planning measures to rein in water use, with a particular focus on savings in agriculture, buildings and industrial processes.

Europe's freshwaters are increasingly filled with pharmaceutical residues and other micro-pollutants, which are potentially harmful to human health and the environment, warns Friedrich Barth from the European Water Partnership (EWP), a research group.

Large multinational food companies are currently looking at indicators farmers could use to show progress in saving water. Peter Erik Ywema, from the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, an industry platform, spoke to EurActiv in an interview.

Precise data on water usage will soon help farmers and policymakers make better decisions on where to grow crops, says Derk Kuiper from the Water Footprint Network, a UN-backed organisation.

The European Commission will consider new measures to decrease water consumption in buildings, agriculture and other areas after a major review of current EU water legislation has been completed by 2012.

Over the next few decades, investment in water infrastructure as a whole will have to increase to satisfy growing demand – something that will require rapid, determined action by governments and financial cooperation with the private sector, write Eric Heymann of Deutsche Bank Research, Deirdre Lizio of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Markus Siehlow of the Dresden University of Technology in a June report.