Box 5.3 Examples of experienced social impacts of WS&D in EU Member States
Public water supply
In Portugal during the 2004-2006 drought, the cost for public water supply was over 20 Mio€, while 22,850 tankers were used in support of urban water supply in 66 municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants. The cost of the inconvenience to the inhabitants affected was considered to be significantly higher than the direct costs reported (Ministério do Ambiente, do Ordenamento do Território e do Desenvolvimento Regional (MAOTDR) 2007)
The 2008 extreme drought event left Spain’s reservoirs half empty. In particular, some reservoirs in Catalonia supplying almost 6 million inhabitants reached 20% of their capacity resulting in restriction in domestic water uses, such as swimming pools and gardening, as well as public water uses, i.e. fountains (Collins 2009).
During the 2011 drought restrictions on water use have been imposed in 78 French administrative departments, which lasted for an exceptionally long period of 18 weeks (1/3rd of a year) (Based on Direction de l’eau et de la biodiversité 2011 and communication through Eionet)
In Greece, serious water shortage problems, particularly interruptions, affecting water consumers occur during irrigation season, when about 87% of total freshwater abstraction is used for agriculture (Isendahl and Schmidt 2006).
Transfers and changes in flow regime
The Tagus-Segura water transfer in Spain raised conflicts between the autonomous communities of Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia and also created tensions between Spain and Portugal concerning the flow regime (Isendahl and Schmidt 2006).
You cannot post comments to this consultation because you are not authenticated. Please log in.