As Prolonged Drought Reaches Europe, Systems Search For Solutions
Ongoing water scarcity embodied by growing issues in the American West is quickly becoming a global problem, with Europe now preparing for the worst.
“Last summer, drought exacerbated by record temperatures around the continent was in the headlines,” Wired reported. “The subsequent dry winter has meant that many aquifers — places underground that retain water — and surface reservoirs have not had a chance to recover. Now, summer beckons once again and experts … are worried that a severe water shortage could threaten lives, industry, and biodiversity in a big way.”
In the U.S., prolonged drought has imperiled major source bodies and raised questions about how officials will be able to respond. It has also motivated outside-of-the-box thinking and novel technological progress among water systems.
Across the Atlantic, it has spurred strict new regulations in numerous jurisdictions.
“In the UK, a hosepipe ban introduced last summer has remained in place all winter,” according to Wired. “In Catalonia in northeast Spain, new water-use restrictions have just been introduced — farms must cut consumption by 40 percent and industry must cut by 15 percent. Cleaning streets with drinking water is no longer allowed. And in Switzerland, some local authorities are distributing leaflets asking residents not to waste water.”
As with many U.S. water systems, European communities are also taking a closer look at the impact that outdated infrastructure can have in water availability struggles, as it’s been estimated that the average water loss due to pipeline leaks there is 26%. But experts stress that the underlying cause of such severe, prolonged water scarcity is climate change, which is taking its toll on rainfall levels.
The changing climate is an existential issue that impacts water systems around the world — one without a clear, easy fix — and the lack of drinking water has pushed some Europeans to seek a decidedly traditional recourse.
“Water is so scarce, some farmers in the (Catalan) region have turned to prayer,” per CNN. “On Sunday, hundreds of residents of the mountain village of L’Espunyola, about 70 miles north of Barcelona, led a procession to appeal to Our Lady of the Torrents to bring them rain.”
For more information about how water systems around the globe are adapting to drought, visit Water Online’s Source Water Scarcity Solutions Center.