15/07/2005 – On 17 July
at 2 p.m., thousands of people across Europe
took part in a simultaneous "Big Jump"
at selected points into rivers, lakes and
the sea to claim the right of all European
citizens to have access to clean waters.
The event, organised by the European Rivers
Network (ERN) and supported by the European
Environmental Bureau (EEB) and WWF, marked
the fifth anniversary of the entry into force
of the EU Water Framework Directive.
According to the Water Framework Directive,
EU countries have to achieve the goal of a
healthy aquatic environment by 2015. But this
seems to be a long way away. As a first milestone
after the directive came into force, national
reports on its implementation are being published
this year.
These paint a dark picture of the state of
the freshwater environment. Fertiliser pollution
from agriculture as well as human activities
impacting on, for example, the flow, depth
and continuity of rivers are some of the main
problems.
"More than 50% of all waters across
Europe are not in a good condition as required
by the Water Framework Directive. Irresponsible
agriculture; badly designed navigation and
hydropower schemes; water overexploitation
and the careless use of hazardous chemicals
in daily products have to end", says
Roberto Epple, from the European Rivers Network.
"With the Big Jump, citizens call on
EU member states to do more to improve the
situation of degraded rivers, lakes and coasts.
Progress made in certain stretches of the
rivers Rhine, Elbe and Thames show this is
possible."
"47% of Europe’s citizens are worried
about water pollution according to the latest
Eurobarometer environmental poll. We have
clear evidence that governments not only are
doing far too little, but are also reluctant
to gather data showing the real condition
of our waters and admit the environmental
truth", says Melissa Shinn from the European
Environmental Bureau.
"Decision-makers have not understood
yet that such investments will pay off. Citizens
will benefit from a cleaner environment as
well as healthy food and drinking water".
"Europe’s rivers, lakes and wetlands
provide us with services that have socio-economic
values and should be preserved for future
generations. These include, for example, natural
flood control and water purification as well
as groundwater recharge", says Eva Royo
Gelabert, European Water Policy Officer at
WWF.
"With timely and efficient implementation
of the Water Framework Directive, Europe will
be able to keep on benefiting from such services,
save money, create new jobs and grow in a
sustainable manner".
This first "Big Jump" is set to
include 200 actions at 30 rivers in over 10
countries from Northern Germany to Croatia,
from Portugal to Poland. All events are managed
by our regional partners. For information
on your nearest "Big Jump", go to
www.bigjump.org.
Notes to Editors
• The Water Framework Directive (WFD) has
been in force since 2000 and aims to protect
all European waters (inland surface waters,
estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater).
Under the Directive, Member States are obliged
to prevent further deterioration and to enhance
and restore the status of aquatic ecosystems
as well as terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands
that directly depend on aquatic ecosystems.
The purpose is to achieve "good ecological
and chemical status" by 2015.
• For the first time an EU Directive has
addressed not only the chemical aspects of
water protection but also its ecological aspects,
such as flow regime, composition and abundance
of aquatic organisms etc. This means, for
example, that the WFD will help rivers to
function like rivers, instead of being mere
transport canals, as they have become in many
parts of Europe. The Directive thus promotes
integrated river basin management – considering
the balanced use of all waters draining into
a single point from the hills to the sea -
as the most efficient way to achieve sustainable
water use. This, in turn,requires coordinated
planning for using land and water resources
within the entire river basin covering all
surface, coastal and ground waters as well
as land-use activities.
• Socio-economic benefits from Water Framework
Directive implementation include: protection
of human health through better quality of
drinking and bathing waters; lower costs for
water uses by reducing treatment and remediation
costs (e.g. drinking water supply); mitigation
of impacts from climate change and ensuring
security of water supplies; promotion of new
sustainable jobs (e.g. in ecotourism, fisheries
and the nature conservation sector); and improvement
of the quality of life by increasing the recreational
value of surface waters (e.g. for water sports).
