EU - Public consultation policy options to optimise water reuse
Published on by Gema MartÃnez, Water Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean - PhD student
My grandmother used to tell me that, after the Spanish civil war, the famine was such intense in some moments that they ate "even the peel of potatoes". Evidently, when the situation is so critical, you start thinking in how can be used that which was previously not used. Water models and predictions do not reveal a cheerful future; and signs on the increasing concern are in "every corner". The European Commission is perfectly aware of the urgency and importance of strong and reliable measures to deal with water stress and its derived disputes. In the contextualization for this consultation the EU states that "the competition for water resources between different water using sectors is already emerging, while high quality resources need to be protected and reserved for drinking water supply". The EU has realized that it is better to start now looking for some "seeding strategy" that "find itself eating peels" in a few decades. Thus, this public consultation (opened until the next 7th of November) aimed to gather ideas as well as new and improved approaches for water reused in Europe. Water reuse is not an option anymore and it must be fostered from the institutional side. However, it is also a complicated matter, having still a lot of scientific, technological and economical gaps, which subsequently leads to its avoidance by the policy makers restarting the cycle. We need secure measures, resilient control and assessment programmes, and suitable policies to become the water reuse into a critical valve in the water management gear. Any idea, contribution, experience, research or opinion will be highly valuable for solving the main global challenge we have nowadays, so our participation and contribution in these kind of initiatives.
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=WATERREUSE&lang=en