About: Water Framework Directive
No water, no agriculture
The state of Europe’s water ecosystems puts a big question mark over the future availability of freshwater, for people and for all manner of industry, not least for food production and agriculture, writes Jabier Ruiz.
Healthy rivers and lakes are not ‘nice-to-haves’, they are essential to our existence
Healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands are our life support system, but EU member states are trying to destroy the law that protects them and the window to save them is closing, warns Andreas Baumüller.
60% of living species declined due to human activity, warns WWF
The ways in which humans feed, fuel and finance modern societies is pushing the planet’s natural systems to the brink, threatening the very foundation on which the world economy is based, according to the WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018, published on Tuesday (30 October).
A watertight CAP
The European Commission needs to deliver an agricultural policy that does not reward agricultural pollution, write Claudia Castell-Exner and Arjen Frentz from Europe's drinking water and wastewater service operators (EurEau).
Time for EU member states to protect lakes and rivers
The latest science shows that Europe’s freshwater bodies are in a dreadful ecological state. Governments must finally take responsibility and undertake serious efforts to comply with EU legislation, urges Andreas Baumüller.
Time to invest in Europe’s water infrastructure
Europe’s water infrastructure is ageing in all EU member states. The European Commission is at a pivotal moment and should decide to invest during the next MFF (2021-2027) to reap the health and environmental benefits, and to save money in the long term, writes Klara Ramm.
ECJ ushers in new era for water protection
Disputes over an Austrian hydropower project and snow cannon system are ushering in a new era for water protection across the EU, writes Andrea Johanides.
How Europe can make its water sector energy neutral
The new EU Drinking Water Directive could be the tool to reduce water losses, cut energy consumption and deliver better quality of water, writes Mads Warming.
French dams’ days numbered after demolition decision
Two large dams on a river in northern France will be demolished after the French government finally signed off on a long-gestating plan to free up the waterway, in a decision welcomed by environmental groups and lauded as "unique in Europe" by Paris.
Denmark cracked ‘secret code’ in water-energy nexus, official claims
Thanks to determined policies, Denmark has succeeded in breaking the seemingly inextricable linkage between water and energy use. But replicating the Danish model at European level won’t be easy, policymakers warn.