“It is essential” for every human being “to have access in daily life to water of good quality and in sufficient quantity. The same goes for most of the economic activities that depend on it”. The European Commission acknowledges that “water shortage and drought have become, over the last thirty years, problems of crucial importance for the Union”. In this context the Executive presented a Communication last week that identifies “a first series of interventions to alleviate the problems relating to water shortage in various regions” of the old continent. “The proposed solutions – explains a Commission source – are linked to a more efficient use of the available water”, a reduction of wastage, infrastructural investments (aqueducts) and “a system of rapid alert, warning of possible phases of drought”. Water shortage “has an impact both on the population and on a wide variety of economic sectors, such as agriculture, tourism, industry, energy and river transport”. The implications for biodiversity, forest fires and soil impoverishment are also considerable.
