Vice president Frans Timmermans of the European Commission (EC) presented the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change as part of the Green Deal. The Commission is calling for faster and smarter measures to deal with the effects of climate change. Setting a right price for water is part of this strategy. ‘The European Commission and the Member States must promote the transition to water-saving technologies and practices by setting a price that correctly reflects the value of water. This can be achieved by promoting instruments such as water resource allocation, water-permitting systems and by incorporating environmental externalities’, can be read in the EU Strategy.
According to the OECD financing capacities of Member States reflect the room to manoeuvre with 3Ts. Some countries rely mainly on water tariffs, like for example Denmark. Others countries shift the burden to taxpayers, like Ireland. There are also countries where public budgets allocated to water supply and sanitation heavily rely on EU funding. OECD warns this is not sustainable as EU funds available for water supply and sanitation will decline over time. OECD: “Therefore, EU Member States need to consider more systematic reliance on domestic sources of finance.” Romania and Bulgaria face the biggest financing challenges in the EU as the projected additional level of effort is very high and room for manoeuvre for financing appears to be limited.
If water prices will rise, consumers might not be able to keep paying for water services leading causing a breach to the Human right to water. The United Nations officially acknowledged the human right to water and sanitation in 2010. EurEau recommends that the support of customers who cannot pay the water bill should be addressed with social policy instruments and not to be covered by water services. “This is essential to ensuring water services affordability, one of the dimensions of the right to water.”
Source: Water News Europe
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