The European Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, acknowledged this Friday at the Europa Forum in Brussels that “no country” in the EU will meet the Water Framework Directive targets for 2027, which aim to achieve good ecological and chemical status in all water bodies.
Roswall pointed out at this event organised by the New Economy Forum in the EU capital that, nevertheless, this does not mean the EU is lowering its ambition in this area. “We all want and need clean water, not just for drinking, of course. Our industries need it too”, she added.
In this regard, she commented that clean water is “essential” for data centers, car manufacturers, and the energy sector, for example. “From the beginning, I was clear that we don’t need new regulations. We have the regulations, but we need to enforce them”, she stated.
On the other hand, Roswall emphasised that the EU has “a problem” with water leaks, since up to 50% of this resource is lost due to issues in the distribution networks.
In this regard, she advocated for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect leaks, something that has been successfully implemented in Bulgaria, for example.
