Era of cheap water over, say Stavros Dimas, EU Environment Minister

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 4 Sep 08;

The era of cheap water in Europe is over and people will have to pay for what they use, Expo 2008 has heard.

European Environment Minister Stavros Dimas told the conference in Zaragoza, Spain - which has a water theme - that the Continent was squandering too much of its water resources and the guiding principle now had to be: the user pays.

Clean drinking water was a vital resource and people had to realise they must pay for it in exactly the same way as they do for their petrol, heat and energy.

"In some areas of the southern Mediterranean where water is already scarce as much as 44 per cent of the supply is wasted.

"That is unsustainable and has to change," he said at the conference on water and drought.

"Water comes at a price and it will be up to each country in the EU to take the right measures and to ensure people pay for what they use.

"If someone who lives near the sea has a swimming pool then they will have to pay more. It is only logical to tax more heavily those who can afford to have a swimming pool when they could just as easily swim in the sea.

"Similarly, if someone opens a golf course in an area where there is little water, then they must pay more."

He said several EU countries including the UK, Germany and Spain were already suffering water shortages and the problem would be made worse by the higher temperatures and more frequent periods of drought brought by climate change.

Mr Dinas was outlining progress on drawing up an EU Water Framework Directive which will form part of an energy and climate package which to be published later this year.

He told the conference that the effects of higher temperatures would be felt first in the southern Mediterranean.

"It is one of the most vulnerable regions where water scarcity and drought will become more acute. We have to move towards more efficient use of the resources we have.

"Forty four per cent of water is wasted in the Mediterranean area and 40 per cent in the rest of Europe but substantial savings can be achieved. The potential to save water must become a priority," he said.

Mr Dinas said if individual countries did not take action now to make consumers pay for water they would face dire consequences in the future when there might not be enough clean drinking water.

He said agriculture - responsible for between 60-70 per cent of all water usage - and industry would also have to pay their fair share.

Austrian MEP Richard Seeber, who is helping draw up the EU's water strategy, said the average daily amount of water used per person in Europe had shot up from 100 litres to 400 litres and the aim was to cut this to just 80 litres.

He told the conference that half the people in Europe lived in areas where there was a water shortage. They had to be motivated to use less water and the best way to do that was by charging for it.

"It will be up to member states to fix their pricing policy and if people argue that filling a swimming pool is a human right then you have to ask 'is ït a human right to deprive our children and grandchildren of water."

"We have to change our behaviour not only in Europe but across the world. It is possible to live without oil but it is not possible to live without water."