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| New Environment Regulations |
| (2012-12-04) |
| Last updated: 2012-12-04 18:11 EET |
The European Commission has launched a programme to safeguard Europe’s water resources, aimed at ensuring that there will be enough water to cover the needs of people, the economy and the environment. Safeguarding water resources remains a thorny issue in Romania, both in terms of quality and quantity.
The European Commission has recommended that Romania should develop its regulations on the responsible use of water resources, given that safeguarding these resources, in terms of both quality and quantity, remains a “critical aspect”. The recommendation came as the Commission launched a blueprint to safeguard Europe’s water resources, whose goal is to ensure a sufficient amount of water is available for people’s needs, the economy and the environment.
The blueprint provides Member States with the necessary tools to improve river basin management at national, regional and local level. According to the document, despite the progress achieved over the last years, water in the EU does not observe the adequate quality standards. Europe faces such challenges as pollution, changes reported in water levels and water shortages, while extreme phenomena such as floods have grown in intensity in several Member States. Safeguarding water resources is essential in Romania, where water is the cornerstone of the economy, accounting for 35 to 40% of the power output in hydropower plants on the River Danube. Water supplies are also key to sustaining agriculture, as 30% of farmland needs irrigation, the document also shows.
Water is also used in preserving wildlife and biodiversity. For instance, the Danube Delta is home an ecosystem unique in the entire Europe, a protected area that has been declared natural heritage. On the other hand, several areas in Romania are faced with a drop in water supplies and threatened by pollution. Such phenomena, the Commission argues, are the direct outcome of waste discharges caused by the lack of appropriate infrastructure and legislation. As regards water consumption, Romania’s main problems are the insufficient economic initiatives towards promoting the sustainable use of water and the lack of a coherent information programme on water resources.
As regards the implementation of the EU’s Water Framework Directive, Romania reports vulnerabilities in regions where no accurate biological measurements were carried out or where environmental or chemical assessments do not observe EU standards. According to the European Commission, European water legislation must be properly enforced, so as to face challenges old and new, such as water pollution, the use of water in agriculture, energy production or soil exploitation and their impact on climate change. EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik believes there must be a sustainable balance between water demand and supply, taking into account the needs of both people and the natural ecosystems they depend on.
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