Energy/Water Nexus
Europe needs policies to decouple economic growth from water and energy consumption
Sylvie Lemmet, the Director of the Technology, Industry and Economics Division at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says that 'Europe needs policies to decouple economic growth from water and energy consumption'.
It is an interesting article. I didn't know that 'Globally, water withdrawals for human activities are growing at twice the rate of the human population. Without efficiency gains, and with average economic growth, demand for water is expected to outstrip currently accessible supplies by 40% by 2030. In Europe, the European Environment Agency calculates the energy sector consumes 44% of the water used across the EU, four times the amount used by industry....'
Read more@ http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home_old/Article/tabid/191/ArticleType/articleview/ArticleID/21994/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Thank you also for posting these stats and policies. Might I invite you to create a separate post on the public consultation? I think it deserves more attention.
It was estimated that by 2007, at least 11 % of Europe's population and 17 % of its territory had been affected by water scarcity, putting the cost of droughts in Europe over the past thirty years at EUR 100 billion. The Commission expects further deterioration of the water situation in Europe if temperatures keep rising as a result of climate change. Water is no longer the problem of a few regions, but now concerns all 500 million Europeans.
You can find more on the recent policies on this page: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/index_en.htm
I also warmly suggest to take part of a public consultation
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/water_reuse_en.htm