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This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by Ritzau.

Less than half of Europe’s surface water is of good quality

by AI | 15.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The water quality in lakes and streams, for example, is challenged in Europe. Agency behind new report points to agriculture.

The quality of EU's water does not meet the desired targets, concludes the EU's environmental agency. Photo: Alex Flores/Europa Press 13/7/2023

Only a third of surface water in Europe, such as lakes, rivers, and along coasts, has good water quality.
Researchers from the EU’s environmental agency assess in a new report on water quality in Europe.

“The state of water in the EU is not good. Our water faces unprecedented challenges that threaten water security in Europe,” says the agency’s director, Leena Yla-Mononen, in a statement.

Groundwater fares slightly better. 77 percent are assessed to have a good chemical status. According to an EU directive, the water must reach the quality “good” when measuring chemical quality and ecological quality. Among other things, it measures what pollutes the water and what nutrients are in the water.
According to the environmental agency, the EU is not on track if it wants to reach the goal.
Peter A. Stæhr, who is a professor at the Department of Ecoscience at Aarhus University and marine biologist, says that the report indicates that water quality is generally poor.

“One can say that the new thing is that there has been no improvement, and it actually seems to be getting a little worse in several places,” he tells Ritzau.Water quality in, for example, lakes and streams is challenged in Europe. Agency behind new report points to agriculture.