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Over the last decades, groundwater aquifers have also been affected by overexploitation in many parts of Europe (EEA 2019a). In the second RBMPs, water abstraction was a significant pressure for 17 % of groundwater area in Europe with the highest share in Hungary, Malta and Cyprus. The reported groundwater water abstractions mainly serve public water supply, followed by agriculture and industry.

In 2017, the water consumption in Europe by different economic sector was made up as follows: agriculture (58 %), cooling water for energy production (18 %), mining, quarrying, construction and manufacturing industries (11 %) and households (10%) (EEA 2020).[3] Water consumption refers to the net water abstraction, which is estimated as the difference between the volume of water abstracted and the volume of water returned to the environment before or after use. The average return ratio of water used for cooling lies at around 80 %, while only about 30 % of the total water abstracted for agricultural purposes in Europe returns to the environment (ibid.). The low water return to the environment combined with high water consumption makes agriculture one of the sectors that cause significant pressures on renewable water resources (EEA forthcoming), especially in southern European countries which record up to 80 % of water use for agriculture (EEA 2018a).  

[3] EEA, 2020, Indicator Use of Freshwater Resources in Europe, https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/use-of-freshwater-resources-3/assessment-4