The European Union’s largest environment conference is being held this week in Brussels. The twelfth ‘Green Week,’ the most significant annual event in European environment policy, began on Tuesday. The focus this year is on Water and the upcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, due to come into effect in 2014.

Under the banner “The Water Challenge – Every Drop Counts,” around 3,000 participants have gathered to discuss ways to safeguard the availability of clean water supplies and reduce pollution and overuse against a backdrop of climate change and an increasing world population. In the UK, erratic rainfall over the past two years has led to a persistent drought in parts of the country. Earlier in the month several more regions in the South West, Midlands and North-East were lifted from drought status following heavy rainfall. The unpredictable situation has led policy makers to step up measures to conserve water over a series of ‘drought summits’ convened by environment secretary Caroline Spelman.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said ahead of the week’s events, "Water is literally a vital resource and human activity is having an enormous impact on it. During Green Week I hope that the hundreds of experts and interested parties who are gathered here will help to develop both existing policies and new ideas so that this precious resource is safeguarded for us all."

The week’s discussions will go to form a ‘Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources,’ scheduled for November this year. The goal of the Blueprint is to achieve ‘good’ status for Europe’s waters by 2015 and ensure “sustainable and equitable” availability of water.

Those that gathered yesterday to discuss concerns and create better policies around water declared that consideration for water conservation and environmental protection should play a greater part in forthcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, as water availability is likely to become scarcer in many European regions as the effects of climate change are felt.

Water experts yesterday told delegated that both flooding and drought are expected to become more commonplace and that effective water strategies will be imperative. As farming uses 70 per cent of freshwater resources globally, plans covering water use should be applied to the agricultural sector. Some speakers said that current ‘greening measures,’ which have proven to be extremely controversial, do not go far enough towards addressing environmental and water concerns.  

They called for more education and improved knowledge sharing to improve research and development and increase uptake of improvements in water use in the field, in addition to including water considerations into policy and cross compliance decisions.

A speaker from the Pesticide Action Network called for more work on reducing agricultural chemicals, which as well as having impacts on biodiversity are a major cause of diffuse pollution in Europe’s water bodies. Institutes including the John Innes Centre in Norwich have begun research into biological alternatives to harmful agrochemicals, though there have been increasing calls from organic bodies to increase research funding for agroecological methods and for more collaborative work between organic and conventional farmers to improve knowledge.

Francois Veillerette warned that the UK government currently spends almost £200 million each year in filtering nitrates and pesticides from water.

The Green Week debates will continue until tomorrow.

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