1. Agricultural Water Use across Europe; EEA assessments Robert Collins Water Group EEA

2. Water Use in Agriculture ● 2009 EEA Report ● SoE-WISE Reporting ● Water Accounts

3. Water Stress has reached a critical level across much of Europe
Caused by a combination of scarcity and drought
Scarcity; Overexploitation of water resources
Drought; ‘natural’ phenomenon.

4. WS&D - Impacts Depletion of water resources
Drying out of soil and wetlands
Poorer water quality
Impacts on aquatic ecosystems
Over-pumping of coastal aquifers – saline intrusion
Economic impacts
Water Scarcity and Drought obviously results in a depletion of freshwater resources as reflected by declines in groundwater, lake and reservoir levels, reduced river flows but also the drying out of wetlands and soils.
Photo shows a reservoir in Cyprus – October 2008.

5. Four key abstracting sectors…..
Energy Production (cooling) – 44% of total water abstraction across Europe
Agriculture – 24%
Public Water Supply – 21%
Industry – 11%
‘Consumption’ is critical – how water much is returned to a waterbody after use?
Agriculture = c.30%, Energy production = 99%
4 key abstraction sectors with % of total abstraction as shown.
However, consumptive water use is very important. Taking this into account means that, environmentally, the impact of the large volume of water abstracted for energy production is not so critical since >99% is returned, albeit at higher temperature. In contrast, only 30% of water abstracted for agriculture is returned. For the public water supply about 70% is returned. For industry we don’t have good figures and it depends very much on management of water within each industrial plant.

6. Agricultural Water Demand peaks in summer when natural availability is at a minimum
Source;
Jucar RBD – article 5
WFD reporting
In addition to its high consumptive use, agricultural water demand peaks over the summer months when the availability of water is at a natural low, as illustrated here by agricultural water demand and rainfall patterns, over the year, in the Jucar river basin, Spain.

7. Irrigation; up to 80% of total water abstraction in the South
Source;
Wriedt et al.
2008

9. Climate Change will exacerbate the problem
Increase in the frequency and severity of drought
Maximum No. of consecutive dry days; Sillmann and Roeckner, 2008

10. Sustainable demand-management approach is required to managing Europe’s water resources
Focus on conserving water and using it more efficiently
Account for the need for healthy freshwater ecosystems
Less water use also means lower energy consumption

11. How can sustainable water management be implemented across Europe ?
Agriculture
‘On-farm’ measures supported by CAP funds
Advisory/Educational services are critical
Effective water pricing structure is needed
Illegal abstraction needs to be tackled
Use of treated wastewater for irrigation
Raising consumer awareness e.g. through Water Footprint

12. ‘On-farm’ measures supported by CAP funds
Drought resistant crops, those that do not have a peak water requirement summer
Improved irrigation efficiency (drip, spray)
Daily water balance – crop requirements
Deficit Irrigation
Application of wastewater to agricultural land

13. ‘New’ SoE-WISE Reporting Initiative on Water Quantity Availability and Abstraction

14. WQ Reporting – SoE-WISE
DG ENV: WFD, EU Communication on WS&D
EEA
Enhance production of reliable in-depth SOER assessments
Strengthen the current indicators (WEI, CSI018)
Support the development of WS&D indicators
Support evaluation of policy e.g. water pricing/CAP subsidy
SEEAW – Water Accounts
EUROSTAT
Enhance regional disaggregation in the JQ IWA - Streamline
Establishing a stable data flow on Water Availability, Abstraction & Use
with spatial (RBD, SU) and temporal (month) disaggregation
under WISE

15. The WQ Reporting Tool

16. Seasonality in Agricultural and Industrial water use in SK RBS

17. Water Exploitation Index
Annual abstraction
as a % of the long-term
Resource
Potential to develop on a
Seasonal basis

18. Water Exploitation Index (WEI) indicates extreme stress
Increasing
stress

19. SEEAW: first level of detail (Broad-brush)
The water sub-system (SEEAW) is a conceptual framework for the organization of physical and economic information related to water, consistent to those of the SEEA
Philippe Crouzet; head of ‘Land’ group, EEA

20. Water Accounts - SEEAW River basin scale water accounts
Stocks, flows, abstractions, returns, transfers of water
All sectors including agriculture
Monthly basis
Identify water stress
Provides framework for economic analysis

21. Thanks for your attention