In a conference in Brussels, European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said yesterday the water quality throughout European nations remained poor despite new rules designed to encourage clean water in rivers, seas, lakes and groundwater.

 

Cleaning up Europe's waterways and access to clean groundwater has an important role in counteracting climate change which has increased risks of flooding and drought across the 27-nation bloc.

 

Dimas said EU legislation introduced seven years ago to clean up the water system was not being fully implemented.

 

The new rules also aim to introduce standard water pricing policies by national authorities and to punish those who pollute water resources.

 

Court action may be taken is EU nations fail to meet clean water standards by 2015.

 

"Only 43 percent of ground water and 28 percent of surface waters now meet or are likely to meet quality targets by 2015 and this is not acceptable," Dimas said. "I urge the member states to do more to properly ... implement all the directives on water and there is no time to waste."

 

This latest call for action came yesterday on World Water Day created to highlight better ways to manage our finite water resources around the globe.