Water scarcity & droughts

1. Water scarcity & droughts Preparation for the 2012 Policy review DG ENV/D1 Water scarcity & droughts team

2. Work so far • Commission Communication WS&D 2007 with7 policy options: • Putting the right price tag on water, • Improving drought risk management, • Fostering water efficient technologies, • Fostering a water-saving culture, • Allocating funding efficiently, • Considering additional water supply infrastructures • Improve knowledge and data collection • 1st Report adopted in December 2008: • Feedback on progress made in measures to be implemented at EU and national levels • A work programme to implement the measures of the Communication • A commitment to present annual progress reports until the policy review in 2012 • 2nd Report May 2010: • Overview of Progress in implementation of measures • Astaff working document with progress on implementation of the work programme and details on the activities in the Member States • 3rd Report expected March 2010 (last report): • Overview of progress made in implementation of measures • Description of the preparatory works for the policy review • A staff working document presents the progress in implementation of the work programme in MS

3. 3rd annual report • Questionnaire sent out in June 2010 • Information on MS based on the responses of 21 countries (with Switzerland) to questionnaire • NOT reported DE, EL, FI, LI, LV, PL, SI

4. Water Scarcity in 2010 The situation reported concerning water scarcity: • 3 Member States reported that they faced continuous water scarcity (CZ, CY, MT); • 5 Member States reported that they faced droughts or rainfall levels lower than the long term average (FR, PT, HU, ES, UK); • 4 Member States experienced local limited water scarcity occurrences (FR, NL, RO and SE).

5. The next steps: Building blocks of the policy review Improving water efficiency • Water efficiency in buildings, Reduction of leakages in distribution systems, Water efficiency in agriculture, Halting desertification Better planning • Implementation of the relevant measures in the River Basin Management Plans, Further development of the observatory and an early warning system on droughts, Improvement of data collection, indicators and water accounts Instruments • Financing - European and national funds offer more and more opportunities (Cohesion policy, CAP, Solidarity Fund, EIB) • Water pricing - water-tariffs have been introduced recently (AT, BG, BE, EE, ES, NL, SE, UK) or are under development (CY, CZ, IE, RO, SK) in order to ensure cost recovery for water services • Water allocation – in the use of an authorization procedure for water abstraction is becoming widespread in the EU, restrictions in water use are applied in order to preserve aquatic life and ecological status in more and more MSs • Research and education

6. Work ahead In the next months, the Commission will focus on • filling knowledge and data gaps (studies, assessments, calls for evidence) • conducting an impact assessment for the policy review The work will be supported by the outcomes of • the assessment of the RBMPs, • the modelling of water vulnerability to man-made pressures, • the cost-benefit analysis of natural water retention measures, • the inputs from EEA, JRC and Eurostat and • the forthcoming Communication on a road map towards a resource efficient economy

7. Ongoing studies WS&D

8. Your input needed • Input from MS needed for all the studies • We propose SCG members to act as contact points • Input needed: • Questionnaire(s) are expected for: water footprinting, water pricing in agriculture, buildings water efficiency • Identification of pilot basins for: Leakage reduction, water pricing & water saving in agriculture • Information about water scarcity & droughts, measures and policies for the GAP analysis

9. Thank you for your attention