2024-10-17 14:18:00
Two current reports warn that water is becoming scarce. Even in Europe, supplies are threatened, we read. Outside experts have ranked the numbers and sometimes arrive at surprising estimates.
As early as 1985, future United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali predicted: “The wars of the future will be fought over water.” To date, no war has explicitly revolved around this resource. However, it plays a central role in numerous conflicts, including in the Middle East around the Jordan or in North Africa on the Nile. And the warning signals are getting louder and louder. Two reports released this week report just how bad things are with this scarce commodity.
“Europe’s water security” is under threat, warned the director of the European Environment Agency, Leena Ylä-Mononen, based on current data from her authority. Almost two thirds of all lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters in Europe are therefore not in good condition. Despite the efforts of the Länder, little has changed since 2015.
Impact on the economy
The biggest burden on water in the EU comes from agriculture, reported the Environment Agency, citing information from Member States. The main reason for this is the intensive use of nutrients and pesticides. At the same time, agriculture is by far the largest net user of water in Europe: “without changes in practices, the needs of irrigated agriculture are likely to increase with climate change.” According to the report, air pollution, for example from car exhaust or combustion, also contributes significantly to the poor water situation.
Things don’t seem to be getting much better around the world. This doesn’t just apply to drinking water. The effects on the economy are likely to be equally dramatic, especially where water is particularly scarce and the economy is particularly weak.
AS writes the Global Commission on the Economy of Water – in which the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) participates: in the poorest countries, gross domestic product could be on average 15% lower in 2050 due to warming global and the consequences associated with water problems.
According to both reports, so-called water stress is becoming a growing threat due to more frequent and severe droughts. This is what we are talking about when more than 20% of available water is used by humans. Even in Europe, according to the EEA, almost a third of the population is already affected. This in turn affects public water supplies – and therefore also agriculture and industry.
In many regions, both in Europe and around the world, the amount of water is not the main problem, Dietrich Borchardt, professor of aquatic ecosystem analysis and management at TU Dresden, told the Science Media Center. Due to “poor quality,” use is “much more limited.”
However, some experts also express criticism of the overall report, including Stefan Siebert, professor of agricultural production at the University of Göttingen. He even talks about “unrealistic results”. The reason: the analysis shows that “extreme water shortages” also occur in those areas where the population itself has hardly noticed this: the Netherlands, the east of England – and the west of Germany.
In these regions, water availability is scarce compared to the population, explains Siebert. However, millions of people are little affected by water scarcity. This was made possible by long-distance oil pipelines and trade flows. Drinking water in Cologne and Düsseldorf comes hundreds of kilometers from the Eifel and Bergisches Land. Most of the food and other products come from distant areas.
According to the agricultural production expert, the biggest threat to water supply is not “climate change and the supposed tendency towards drought”, but rather a “potential failure” of the infrastructure, for example due to lack of investment in maintenance and modernization of the water network.
Yet all experts agree that this rare commodity should be given even greater importance in Europe and around the world. So what to do? The recipes are well known: factories and fields must be cheaper and wastewater must be used better. Experts also advocate for construction to be more water-efficient in relation to new technologies, including renewable energy, semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence.
Martina Flörke, professor of Hydrological Engineering and Water Management at Ruhr University in Bochum, explains: “New industrial settlements should not only be seen from the point of view of the economic power of a region, but also from the point of view of availability of water”. could also help: a higher water price level. “The water has to be paid for,” says Flörke. “Not only from families, but also from other consumers, industry and agriculture.”
So far private individuals have paid more than industry. In many places, farmers tap rivers or tap groundwater through wells. Often without paying a cent. If prices rise, better reprocessing or more efficient irrigation may be in order.
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