This feature contains:

• Water scarcity and LIFE - developing good practice in reducing water usage
• LIFE project: Saving water with more efficient irrigation systems

Water scarcity and LIFE - developing good practice in reducing water usage

Water scarcity and droughts concern all EU countries, especially those in the southern Mediterranean region. Climate change is expected to multiply and intensify these occurrences in the future. In the face of these challenges, a number of LIFE projects have worked directly or indirectly to improve the efficiency of water use.

A Europe-wide issue

Eurostat information provided by the Member States indicates that all Mediterranean EU countries are already affected at certain times. This equates to 130 million inhabitants or nearly 30% of the EU population.

Water scarcity at the level of individual river basins does not appear in these figures. However, in response to a recent survey, 13 Member States identified 33 river basins already affected by water scarcity. While most of these are located in southern Europe, others were identified in Belgium, Denmark Germany, Hungary and the UK. Agriculture was seen to be the major cause of water abstraction in 54% of these rivers.

Droughts were also reported to have occurred with increasing frequency over the past 30 years. Severe events were identified that affected more than 800,000 km² of the EU territory (37%) and 100 million inhabitants (20%) in four separate years since 1989. Five southern European countries registered 8-21 drought events since 1976.

The proportion of both the EU territory and EU population affected by drought has increased from 6% in the period 1976-1990 to 13% in the period 1991-2006. EU estimates put the overall economic impact of drought events in the past 30 years at €100 billion, without even including the social and environmental costs.

Furthermore, increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall are expected to reduce levels of water availability in Mediterranean river basins by a further 10% or more by 2030.

A political priority

Since March 2006, when Member States called for EU action on drought events and water scarcity, a series of high-level documents have been produced to inform this work.

An initial policy analysis by the European Commission in June 2006 was followed by a first interim report on water scarcity and drought by an expert group set up by the Environmental Council of Ministers in November 2006. This report was updated in May 2007.

In July 2007, the Commission published a study on water-saving potential in the EU and a Communication on ‘Addressing the challenge of water scarcity and droughts in the European Union’. Water scarcity and drought is also a key priority for the current Portuguese Presidency. The urgency of this policy area was reinforced by the Presidency conclusions on water scarcity and drought discussed at the Informal Council of Environment Ministers in September and due to be formally adopted at the Environment Council on 30th October 2007.

LIFE projects on water scarcity

A number of LIFE projects have worked directly or indirectly to improve performance or demonstrate new best practice in these areas. Several projects have worked to develop new production processes reducing or eliminating the use of water. The project ‘Microfinishing’ (LIFE02 ENV/IT/000052) developed a new dry process of ceramic finishing that reduced water usage in this previously water-intensive industry to zero.

The project ‘Hagar’ (LIFE02 ENV/E/000210) developed an effective new system of irrigation, which calculates the real-time water requirements of plants and avoids unnecessary watering of crops. The project achieved a reduction in water usage in twelve pilot fields and trained farmers and technicians in the implementation of the system.

Another recently finished project dedicated to more rational water usage in irrigation was the Optimizagua project in Spain (LIFE03 ENV/E/000164). It combined innovative technologies with traditional rainwater collection methods to reduce demand on the general water supply (see project article is this edition of LIFEnews).

Preventing water loss from leaks is a key area of concern and the Dropawater project (LIFE02 ENV/E/000183) checked all water supply pipes in the Spanish city of Ceuta using advanced technology. The project then implemented a “Compact Pipe/Roll Down” technique to repair leaking pipes, which were sheathed in a new polyethylene pipe jacket. The project reduced the daily water usage in the city by nearly 3,000m³. 

Similarly, the Rakvere LIFE project (LIFE00 ENV/EE/000922) introduced a comprehensive monitoring system for its water supply network. The system measures water supply, consumption and flow and detected leaks. It also provided computerised tools which enabled more effective management of the water supply. Water loss was decreased from 37% to 21% and the time taken to detect leaks was decreased from up to six days to within three days.

A project focused on the re-use of water was Aquasave (LIFE97 ENV/IT/000106). It introduced a system to collect and treat water coming from showers, bathtubs and washbasins (grey water) in a residential building in Bologna. After filtration and disinfection, the water was diverted for use in toilet flushing. It also collected and treated rainwater before sending it to be used in dishwashers and washing machines. These measures reduced demand for drinking water in the building by 20%. Furthermore, the project demonstrated that water-efficient appliances could further reduce consumption by 30%.

Another project looked at the “Reuse of filter backwash water from groundwater treatment for drinking water purposes with a submerged membrane system” (LIFE98 ENV/D/000509). Standard water filters have to be washed out with fresh water for continued use resulting in dirty waste water. This project demonstrated the feasibility of a large-scale system to recover 99.85% of the water used to clean the filters by micro-filtration.

Whilst most of these projects are aimed at reducing water usage without changing consumption patterns, the LIFE project “Zaragoza, the Water-saving City” (LIFE96 ENV/E/000509) did attempt to change the water consumption habits of the local population. It implemented a massive information campaign on water saving using a full range of information and promotional tools. It doubled the number of households engaged in water-saving measures, enabling the saving of 1.2 thousand million litres of water in 1998. It also encouraged more than 140 companies to market water-saving products.

Each of these LIFE projects demonstrates an effective method for improving the efficiency of water usage. Each of them thus makes a contribution to efforts to respond to the challenge posed by water scarcity and droughts. They show both policy-makers and practitioners what it is possible to do and the results that can be achieved.

For more information on water saving projects, please see the thematic list “Water saving” or check the respective thematic section of the LIFE website.