Water shortage is a daily occurrence in Malta. The island in the middle of the Mediterranean, between Italy and North Africa, has no river or lake and receives little precipitation. Every penny counts, and with a community of 563, 000 and more than six occasions that in annual holiday appointments, a warm, dry climate. Without adequate water, Thomas Bajada, a marine scientist and lately elected member of the European Parliament, said,” We have lived long.” However, he claimed that the country’s lack of resources has forced it to develop. Around two-thirds of the country’s drinking fluids comes from the water, desalinated water that has been blended with little water. The taps can also be kept from running clean by investing in different technological solutions like wise water meters, leak prevention, and wastewater reuse. At least for the moment.
One-fifth of Europe is currently impacted by waters stress.
However, Malta’s liquid problems are expected to increase as temperatures rise and weather trends become more unpredictable as a result of climate change. Around one-fifth of the continent already experiences water stress every year, according to the European Environment Agency ( EEA ), with many cities and regions in Europe still relying on outdated water management practices. It stated that Europe anticipates a doubled liquid desire by 2050, which will cause severe water shortages in the future. Europe is at the vanguard of a growing water crisis, which threatens business, agriculture, communities, and people ‘ access to water, according to Loic Charpentier, head of advocacy at the advocacy group Water Europe, which promotes water systems. In some places, extreme heat and prolonged periods of drought, when uncommon in Europe, are a problem every year. According to statistics from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, several heat waves in 2024 shattered record temperatures, with Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region suffering the most from temperature anxiety and shrinking liquid reserves. The European Environment Agency released its first-ever German Climate Risk Assessment in March 2024, highlighting the fact that these innovative climate extremes were now seriously affecting ecosystems, crops and economic engagement, human wellbeing, and water supplies. Additionally, rainfall and extreme heat may “exacerbate existing dangers and crises… resulting in disruptions of critical infrastructure, threats to financial markets and security, and” exacerbate existing risks and crises.”
Water shortages stoked “rising wars”
No one can tell what is happening when we talk about water, water waste, and water scarcity, according to Athenais Georges of the German Water Movement, a proponent of the action. It’s a significant problem for social justice and economic reasons because conflict is rising because of limited water resources. More than 1.6 million Union citizens signed the Right2Water campaign in 2012, which demanded that the EU Commission make certain water remains a common service and “ensure that all citizens enjoy the right to ocean.” The Drinking Water Directive, the EU’s primary rules on having water, was revised following the plan and became effective in 2021. It requires EU member nations to “improve access to safe drinking water for all people.” Despite this, EEA data indicates that about 30 % of EU individuals also experience water shortages annually.
Is a new EU ocean strategy address this?
In response to farmer demonstrations and right-wing condemnation of the EU’s ambitious climate plans, the European Commission is scheduled to finally release its Water Resilience Strategy in early June. The technique is anticipated to concentrate primarily on efficiency, liquid reuse, and modern improvements, particularly in industries and agricultural sectors that rely on water. The EU director for the environment and water resilience, Jessika Roswall, addressed the European Parliament in early May,” We want to address the root causes of water issues, including pollution, lack, and the impact of climate change.” She also cited plans to “promote the competitive advantage of our International water industry.” Bajada called the EU Commission’s update to the country’s present water management and climate adaptation strategy “scattered, regional, and unreactive.” Moving from vows to bound, binding action is what that entails. We can’t afford to treat ocean as eternal. According to Bajada, the report’s author,” this statement calls for legal water effectiveness and abstraction targets — sector by sector, basin by basin.” He acknowledged that member states need to know that waters management is a responsibility that is shared across borders, a regional problem that is enshrined in the EU agreement.
Solutions: Modernize the infrastructure and increase efficiency
According to EU lawmakers, the Commission must prioritize using artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to improve efficiency, monitoring, and security. This money should be used to modernize water infrastructure, set up nature-based solutions, and prioritize using dedicated funding for water resilience. We need money to directly invest in innovation, to directly invest in a smarter way of managing water, to directly invest in agriculture, according to Bajada of the center-left Socialists and Democrats organization. Use the European Investment Bank as a direct line in the upcoming EU budget as well as public-private partnerships to scale up investment.
Can desalination solve the world water crisis?
In an email, Charpentier, of Water Europe, emphasized the need to build new infrastructure and expand digitalization, stating that “drought and climate adaptation are only part of the larger puzzle.” ” Europe must encourage investments in all sectors, from citizens and businesses to local and regional authorities.”
Restoring water by “giving space back to nature”
Environmental campaigners are disappointed, however, by what they claim are conservative and far-right lawmakers ‘ successful attempts to dilate the value of nature-based solutions, calling it a “worrying precedent” prior to the release of the Commission’s strategy. They have criticized the move to weaken conservation objectives and efforts to address water pollution. Without working with nature, the Living Rivers Europe NGO coalition said,” We cannot deal with a continent that is increasingly depleted of clean water or repair broken water cycles.” ” Nature-based solutions, such as restoring wetlands and removing barriers obstructing rivers, are much more cost-effective, straightforward, and environmentally sustainable than grey infrastructure and techno-fixes,” says one researcher. When you are profit-driven, you can’t achieve environmental, social, and ethical goals, according to Georges of the European Water Movement, a movement that opposes the privatization of water services. She explained to DW that modern, brand-new desalination facilities and dams were labor-intensive to build and maintain and demanded hefty maintenance. In contrast, she argued that using permeable surfaces in cities or granting more space to rivers and streams was more sustainable in the long run. This strategy, she said, helped to retain more water in the soil and replenish drained groundwater reserves. What’s the easiest, and what’s the most affordable, if you look at both types of solutions? Georges remarked. It’s merely reintroducing nature’s space.
