European Environment Agency .. Europe faces the risk of water stress and fresh water shortages

Brussels on March 21 / WAM / The majority of European countries face the so -called “water stress phenomenon” and the risk of fresh water shortages, which was revealed by the European Environment Agency.

With the rise in temperatures every year, increased drought and increasing pressure on water resources, issues related to water exploitation and the scarcity of importance increased.

In this regard, the agency stated that in 2022 the water exploitation index plus Wei+ for the European Union reached 5.8 %, an increase of 0.9 percentage points (PP) since 2000, and such is the highest value since the data collection started in this regard in 2000.

The WEI+Water Exploitation Index (WeI+) helps to understand the level of water scarcity by measuring the total water consumption as a percentage of renewable fresh water resources available to a specific area and period.

Values, which are more than 20 % in general, are a sign of water scarcity and indicates that more than 40 % indicate extreme water scarcity.

Among the European Union countries, Cyprus recorded 71.0 %, indicating that the use of freshwater resources was not sustainable and in 2000, the WeI + index in this European country was already 59.5 %.

The values ​​of Malta and Romania were 34.1 % and 21.0 % in 2022, and Greece, Portugal and Spain came at 13.8 %, 10.1 % and 8.8 %, respectively, that is, less than a threshold of 20 %, but it is still higher than most European Union countries.

Moreover, regional differences and the severity of water scarcity during the summer months are invisible in these annual national medium values.

In southern Europe in particular, water scarcity can be a serious problem in the spring and summer seasons and is exacerbated by high pressure on water resources through agricultural needs, public water supplies and tourism.

Latvia, Croatia, Sweden, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovinia, Finland and Luxembourg were recorded the values ​​of water exploitation index Wei+

Less than 1 %, which indicates that it was not under the conditions of water stress.

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