24 Feb 2014 - European
households are generating lower levels of
nutrient pollution in water, despite a growing
population. In a similar example of 'absolute
decoupling', levels of some pollutants from
agriculture and manufacturing have fallen
in recent years, while the economic production
of these sectors has grown.
These trends are highlighted
in a series of new indicators published
by the European Environment Agency (EEA),
which look at various economic aspects of
water pollution and water use in Europe.
The three indicators
look at pollutant emissions from the agricultural
sector, households and manufacturing industries,
comparing this pollution to economic factors.
'Absolute decoupling'
is the implicit aim of many environmental
policies, meaning economic growth continues
while environmental impacts decrease. 'Relative
decoupling' is often used to describe a
situation where environmental impacts continue
to increase, but at a lower rate than growth.
The data suggests that
Europe is generally moving in the right
direction in reducing nutrient pollution
of water, a major cause of eutrophication.
It is still a significant pollution problem,
however. Manufacturing industries have also
significantly cut their emissions of heavy
metals to water between 2004 and 2010, the
data shows.
However, at the national
level a handful of countries do not show
an absolute decoupling trend, either with
falling rates of productivity or increasing
pollutant emission levels.
The interactive graph
below have been made using DaViz, an online
plug-in developed by the EEA. It is free
and open source. For more interactive graphs,
check the indicators below.
The chart displays changes
in emission in water of nutrient equivalents
from manufacturing (NACE , division 10-33),
and the economic output of manufacturing
expressed as the gross value added (GVA)
in Europe between 2004 and 2010. Changes
are expressed in %, where values for 2004=100
%. Data from food industry are not included
for Norway due to discrepancy between coverage
for economic data (GVA) and emission data
for facilities where main activity is intensive
aquaculture.
