EC initiative on water scarcity and droughts: drought events and on long-term water unbalances

The Commission intends to issue by July 2007 a communication that will focus on drought events and on long-term water unbalances. The communication will aim to identify possible technical, social or legislative options to mitigate the impacts of such events.

So far, a first interim report on this issue has been drafted in collaboration with an expert's group. These preliminary results have been submitted to a Stakeholders Forum for consultation (this Forum has been invited to contribute).

The first results, based on MS replies and other available data at EU level are provisional at this stage and need to be confirmed. The first interim report (pdf 4,82MB) attempts to present an overview of the drought events and water scarcity situations at EU level, whenever quantitative data are available at national and European levels. It also gives an insight into national uses of EU funds and water pricing.