Malta, Cyprus and the Czech Republic have been singled out by the European Commission as the member states with the most “water scarcity” problems in the EU.
Reporting on the state of water resources across the EU, the Commission said that by next year it would put revised rules in place, making it compulsory for member states to tackle dwindling water resources more efficiently.
The news comes just as Malta yesterday unveiled its water management plan, which shows that, in some areas, the level of nitrates is seven times the 50 milligrams per litre target specified by the EU.
This “ambitious” plan, the first of its kind in the Mediterranean region, focuses on ways to protect, enhance and improve water in Malta and Gozo. It ties in with the EU Water Framework Directive, which requires states to prepare a management plan for their water catchment areas.
According to the Commission, Malta made substantial progress in the past year to address its water resources problem. However, a proper water pricing policy still had to be implemented.
Water pricing requirements will be one of the main pillars of the new policy.
Until a few years ago, Malta had a “free for all” situation in the extraction of groundwater from the aquifer and it was only recently the government obliged borehole owners to register. Meters were being installed at such boreholes although water extraction, even by bottling companies and soft-drink producers, remained unbilled.
The Commission said the situation would have to change as water pricing was essential to safeguard this precious resource across the EU. Last year, the Commission clearly indicated Malta would soon have to get its act together and start billing for groundwater extraction.
According to European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik groundwater extraction should be paid for. “One of the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (article 9) is that the water pricing policy is to provide adequate incentives to users to use water resources efficiently and thereby contribute to the environmental objectives of the directive, ” he said.
“In general, this would involve metering and billing of the (ground) water used, unless it can be demonstrated that other schemes are equally effective in providing adequate incentives,” Mr Potocnik insisted.
Accoridng to the Commisison report, Malta is moving in this direction by metering all boreholes although the process “has not yet been completed”.
At the same time, the Commission reported progress in various areas of Malta’s water management.
It said the government was addressing water leakage problems by further updating technology and more maintenance of the distribution system while efforts were being made to cut consumption through aggressive educational campaigns.
Highlighting the main features of the new EU water policy expected next year, the Commission said this would focus largely on water efficiency, better planning and appropriate implementation instruments, such as water pricing and water allocation.