Member states need to develop pricing policies that promote water efficiency or miss out on rural development and cohesion funding, the European Commission said last week.
In its long-awaited “Blueprint” water strategy statement, the Commission proposed making finance for certain projects conditional on an efficient water pricing framework.
The stipulation, which the Commission wants to introduce in 2014, would boost water metering, which it said was a “precondition for any incentive pricing policy”.
Nicci Russell, policy director at lobby group Waterwise, said it would be “a positive step for metering, without coming down like a sledgehammer”.
Russell also supported water efficiency targets encompassing all the big water-using sectors, including power generation, industry and agriculture, as well as households.
The Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources said targets should be set for river basins that are water stressed – or projected to be – and be closely linked to the aim of achieving “good status” under the Water Framework Directive.
Just 53 per cent of water bodies in Europe are expected to attain good ecological status by the target date of 2015, but the Commission wants to better use existing policy rather than bring in new legislation.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 23rd November 2012.
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