<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/european-environment-agency-report-surface-water-quality>
"Only about one-third of Europe’s surface water is in good health or better, a
report has found, despite an EU target first set for 2015 to bring all bodies
of water up to good quality.
About 37% of Europe’s surface waters qualified as having at least a good
ecological status and 29% a good chemical status in 2021, according to data
from 19 member countries compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The
original deadline for the EU target has been extended to 2027 but data suggests
this is on track to be missed by a wide margin.
“The health of Europe’s waters is not good,” said Leena Ylä-Mononen, the EEA’s
executive director. “Our waters face an unprecedented set of challenges that
threatens Europe’s water security.”
The report found that farms had the biggest effect on Europe’s surface water
and groundwater, drawing out too much water and pumping in too many pollutants,
along with the impact of coal-fired power plants that spew out toxic particles.
Parts of western and central Europe such as Germany and the Netherlands had a
particularly high share of water bodies in poor health, the report found.
It highlighted the “catastrophic” die-off of fish in the Oder River in 2022
that was mainly caused by pollution from salt mines and nutrients from urban
wastewater.
The EU introduced sweeping rules on water management almost 25 years ago that
sent member countries racing to improve the quality of their bodies of water.
But efforts over the last decade “have rarely translated into improved status
overall”, the EEA found, in the most thorough assessment of the continent’s
waterways to date.
The report found that Europe’s groundwater was in better health than its
surface water, with 91% rated as having at least a good quantitative status and
77% achieving a good chemical status. On both metrics, groundwater quality had
improved by just one percentage point since 2015.
The EEA said solutions to the poor state of Europe’s water included reducing
demand, releasing fewer harmful substances, and restoring rivers and wetlands.
The scientists pointed to the floods that ravaged central Europe last month as
examples of weather events that have made action more urgent."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
