EU Water Conference 22-23 March 2007 Brussels

EU Water Conference 2007 Aim: -Present first implementation report for the Water Framework Directive. -Launch Water Information System for Europe (WISE). -Discuss future challenges.

EU Water Conference 2007 Participants: 400 participants from all EU Member States and several other countries including Turkey, Ukraine, Tunesia and USA; From EU institutions, all levels of MS administrations, NGOs, many water users, stakeholders, researchers and universities Webstreaming: 200 people were following the event all the time, 180 people joined the chat sessions

EU Water Conference 2007 Programme: Key note speeches from politicians Presentations on all kind of water related topics Panel discussions with stakeholders and Member States Concluding remarks

EU Water Conference 2007 WISE and Public Awareness: The Eurobarometer always shows that water is seen as a very important issue by EU citizens. The effects of EU water policy need to be better communicated to EU citizens. The WISE (the Water Information System for Europe) will assist in informing the public in a transparent way.

EU Water Conference 2007 WFD Implementation: Significant steps are made 'Towards Sustainable Water Management in the EU’; Poor transposition and the economic analysis are the biggest gaps in WFD implementation so far. There is still time to remedy the gaps; Challenges include climate change, agriculture, water scarcity and drought, paying the right price and integration in other policies.

EU Water Conference 2007 Climate Change: Current and upcoming water policy is a good start to adapt to climate change; Climate change should not be an excuse to hide poor water management practices.

EU Water Conference 2007 Water Scarcity and Drought: Water scarcity and droughts have emerged as an important challenge in Europe. When addressing Water Scarcity and Drought, priority has to be put on using water more efficiently, eg by applying economic instruments and new policies/technologies for water savings.

EU Water Conference 2007 Paying the right price: Economic instruments, as set out in the WFD, should be widely applied to ensure that costs for clean and sufficient water are shared fairly; One way forward is to improve transparency of water pricing policies and by focusing on the 'user pays principle', regardless of whether the water is taken from a tap, a river or an aquifer.

EU Water Conference 2007 Agriculture CAP has reformed over the last year to take into account environmental concerns. Diffuse pollution from agriculture will however be one of the main challenges for improving water quality in the EU. Changes in production patterns (e.g biofuels), will put further pressure on EU waters. Issues need to be further addressed in the next CAP health check.

EU Water Conference 2007 Integration into other policies EU transport and energy policy have started integrating requirements from EU water policy. Challenges remain and transport (navigation) and energy (hydropower) policies need to be implemented in a way that reduces negative impacts on the aquatic environment. On cohesion policy, it needs to be ensured that assistance from the Funds is consistent with water policy.

EU Water Conference 2007 Final Remark: State of play of sustainable water management in the EU is available; Time to focus on next phase of implementation. Videos and background information available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/2007conference