Europe’s Water Resources Under Pressure, Most Surface Bodies Polluted, EU Says 

Two fishermen stand on a rocky overhang as the sea hits the shore during high tide along the Atlantic Ocean in Lacanau, southwestern France on February 1, 2025. (AFP)
Two fishermen stand on a rocky overhang as the sea hits the shore during high tide along the Atlantic Ocean in Lacanau, southwestern France on February 1, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Europe’s Water Resources Under Pressure, Most Surface Bodies Polluted, EU Says 

Two fishermen stand on a rocky overhang as the sea hits the shore during high tide along the Atlantic Ocean in Lacanau, southwestern France on February 1, 2025. (AFP)
Two fishermen stand on a rocky overhang as the sea hits the shore during high tide along the Atlantic Ocean in Lacanau, southwestern France on February 1, 2025. (AFP)

Most of European Union surface water bodies are polluted by chemicals, the European Commission said on Tuesday, in a report that revealed the damaged state of Europe's water resources.

The European Union is drafting plans this year to tackle water shortages and droughts being worsened by climate change, and address the intense pressure on water supplies from farming, pollution and sprawling urbanization.

By the EU's assessment, just 39.5% of EU surface water bodies like lakes, rivers and coastal waters, were in good ecological condition as of 2021. Only 26.8% had a good chemical status, down from 33.5% in 2015.

The report noted partial improvements - for example, in aquatic plants in lakes - but these did not rescue the overall health of water bodies.

The situation is better in Europe's groundwater bodies, 86% of which had a good chemical status - although nitrates from farming were polluting groundwater supplies in most EU countries, the data showed.

"The situation for water in the EU is in bad shape," EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall told Reuters in an interview last month. "We have taken water for granted for so long. And I think it's time now that we have this mindset change."

Addressing the issue will be a political challenge - not least because it would involve tackling the substantial impact farming has on water supplies, through irrigation and pollution like nitrates from fertilizers that leach off fields.

Farmers across Europe wielded their political influence last year, staging months of sometimes violent protests against EU rules that resulted in Brussels scaling back some environmental measures.

The Commission said more radical measures were needed to tackle nitrates pollution, but it acknowledged these "could be politically difficult to adopt".

With most countries expected to miss an EU target for all surface water to be in "good" status by 2027, failure to act could result in legal action. The Netherlands is already facing a court order to drastically cut nitrogen pollution, which damages water quality.

The EU could allocate more funds from its next budget to clean up water supplies - although those demands will compete with governments' requests for more EU spending on defense and industry.



Spain Foreign Tourist Numbers Break Record in Early 2025

FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
TT
20

Spain Foreign Tourist Numbers Break Record in Early 2025

FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

Spain welcomed a record 17 million foreign tourists in the first three months of 2025 as the buoyant sector drives an economy outshining European peers, official data showed on Monday.

The 17.1 million foreign tourists arriving in Spain from January to March was a 5.7-percent increase on the same period in 2024, the National Statistics Institute said.

Britain, France and Germany supplied the most holidaymakers to the world's second most-visited country, which last year hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists seeking its sun, beaches and culture, AFP reported.

Spending by foreign tourists also climbed 7.2 percent to 23.5 billion euros ($26.7 billion), the tourism ministry said in a statement, a welcome development for the government which wants visitors to splash more cash during their stay.

The tourist sector was one of the drivers of Spain's standout growth of 3.2 percent in 2024, well above the EU figure of one percent.

But the bonanza has sparked a growing backlash among locals who complain that an unsustainable influx of foreign visitors is driving up rents, saturating infrastructure and changing the fabric of neighborhoods.

Spain aims to "diversify" destinations, make the sector less dependent on key seasons and "share out the benefits" across the country, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu said in a statement.