Passed for resource management, rejected for water dispersion:Italy's statistics on water

The water that is dispersed in Italy every year in distribution networks could satisfy the water needs of 43.4 million people for an entire year

«Ladies and gentlemen, the water cycle has stopped.We allowed ourselves to believe that water will be there forever, but that's not the case."It is with these words that Maroš Šefčovič, vice-president of the European Commission, inaugurated Green Week, the annual event that takes place in Brussels to raise awareness of environmental issues.The theme chosen for this year's edition is water.Or better:the resilience of the European Union against droughts and floods.Faced with an increasingly hotter planet and increasingly frequent extreme events, the availability of water resources is more at risk than ever.Hence, therefore, the need to take action before it is too late.«Our economy – added Šefčovič – depends on a stable supply of water to produce food, energy and goods.And we have seen the damage that can occur with extreme events in a warming continent, such as Europe."

The three pillars of the European strategy

The European strategy to correct and restore the correct water cycle passes through three pillars.The first has to do with the restoration of nature, a topic that Brussels has addressed with the contested Nature Restoration Law, approved by Parliament but held hostage by the Council.Being able to count on healthy forests and natural habitats is in fact an essential condition for the correct use of water resources.The second pillar of the European strategy concerns efficiency.Just as with energy, water must also be managed efficiently and above all following the dictates of the circular economy, which aims to reduce waste to a minimum and reward the treatment and recovery of waste water.Finally, the last European pillar:rebalance supply and demand.For about a century, humanity has embarked on a development path that is based on an unsustainable use of natural resources.According to the United Nations, by 2030 global demand for water will exceed the water actually available by 40%.

It is not just climate change that puts water resources at risk, as demonstrated by the drought that has hit Sicily (and beyond) in recent months.But also some technologies of the same ecological and digital transition.Two very concrete examples:nuclear power plants e data centers, which require large quantities of water for cooling activities.According to European Commission estimates, 30% of European citizens are forced to deal with water scarcity situations every year.If we then look at extreme meteorological events, made increasingly frequent precisely by climate change, we discover that 90% are water-related, in the sense that it has to do (in one way or another) with water.From 1980 to today, the European Commission estimates, the cost of floods in Europe alone has exceeded 170 billion euros.

European water laws

It is precisely to deal with situations like those just described that the European Union moved fairly early - unlike what happened with energy policies - to develop its own water strategy.The water framework directive dates back to 2000 and requires all EU states to achieve good status of all bodies of surface and groundwater by 2027.That directive was followed by many other measures, such as the Bathing Water Directive (2007) and the Water Reuse Regulation (2020), which sets some minimum standards for the agricultural use of treated wastewater.And speaking of European legislative initiatives on water, one of the "oldest" dates back to 1991.This is the directive on the treatment of urban waste water, a practice in which Italy has always struggled to adapt to European standards.

Data on Italy

When it comes to water, Italy's indicators present lights and shadows.On the quality of bathing water, for example, our country presents decidedly positive data.The latest report from the European Environment Agency, published on May 28, says that 90.3% of Italian bathing waters meet "excellent" quality criteria, 5.7% are in "good" conditions and 1.9% is "sufficient".Only 1.3% of the samples analyzed returned poor water quality.Another area in which Italy can breathe a sigh of relief is the sustainable management of resources.From 2000 to 2019, according to European Commission data, annual water withdrawal - from both surface and underground water sources - fell by 20%.

However, alongside the lights there are also shadows.The main obstacle for Italy to the correct use of water is the age-old problem of water dispersion.The latest Istat data say that 42.4% of drinking water is wasted before reaching the final consumer.The water that is dispersed in Italy every year in distribution networks could satisfy the water needs of 43.4 million people for an entire year.Italy's other historic problem on this front is wastewater treatment.In April 2024, the European Parliament voted on a new directive that makes the rules on the collection, treatment and discharge of urban wastewater even more stringent.Italy, however, has never managed to respect even the standards established years ago, with the result that today we still pay the bill for infringement procedures opened by the European Commission.