Tension mounts in Europe over water use and storage for agriculture

4 months ago 26

Water management and storage systems raise questions in southern European countries, while a French movement is preparing protests over water reserves for farmers and aims to mobilise citizens up to the Venice lagoon in northern Italy.

In her speech before being reelected as the head of the European Commission on 18 July, Ursula von der Leyen called for the implementation of a “sustainable water management strategy” to ensure that farmers are “better prepared” for climate change.

In the face of water shortages, prolonged droughts and irregular rainfall, in its Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, the EU Council pledged to strengthen water resilience and “invest in large-scale cross-border infrastructure, including water infrastructure”.

However, this type of development may cause considerable tension. On the day of von der Leyen’s speech in Strasbourg, several thousand people demonstrated in Marais Poitevin, western France, against the construction of ‘mega-basins’, open-air water reservoirs enabling farmers to secure access to water resources.

The French activists want to raise the level of mobilisation.

In September, les Soulèvements de la terre – the organisers of the French demonstrations – are organising a water convoy ‘From the Marais Poitevin to the Venice Lagoon’, intending to raise the alarm against mega-basins and water pollution in the Veneto region, in Italy.

‘Mega-basins’, a divisive issue

The special feature of this infrastructure, on top of capturing and storing rainwater, is its ability to draw water from the ground in the event of insufficient rainfall. Opponents say this disturbs the entire wetland area and contributes to its drying up.

In a Europe that is warming faster than the global average, due to climate change, Mediterranean countries are warming even faster and water management strategies are a critical need.

While Italy collects more than 10% of its rainwater and Spain as much as 20%, France collects only 1.7%.

In Spain, water is stored mainly in embalses, huge freshwater pools that differ from ‘mega-pools’ in the way they are filled.

“In Spain and many French regions, the reservoirs are mainly drawn from rivers or surface water,” Laurence Marandola, spokesperson for the Confédération Paysanne, the French union opposed to these structures, told Euractiv.

Italy does not use mega-basins for irrigation. The Italian farmers‘ unions Coldiretti and CIA-Agricoltori Italiani, however, have proposed the creation of water basins that would not draw water from the ground but would operate solely by recovering rainwater and diverting water from rivers “during the rainiest periods”, explains CIA’s Stefano Francia.

These would also be covered with floating photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for pumping.

Another widespread system throughout hilly areas in Europe is the use of hill reservoirs to catch rainwater that runs off the ground.

The mega-basins are a “French peculiarity,” Laurence Marandola added, and they became a necessity in the Poitevin marshlands given the absence of rivers in the area.

Drying up the environment in Spain

However, the Spanish system also has its limitations. According to various studies, the embalses struggle to fill up in summer because of low rainfall. In 2023, they only reached half of their capacity. The situation is similar in Portugal and Italy, where these storage systems are being developed at breakneck speed.

“Cutting riverbeds floods the valley and accumulates too much water on one side, while on the other it leads to intense droughts,” Julia Martínez, technical director of the Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua, an organisation that protects aquatic ecosystems threatened by these practices, told Euractiv.

According to the specialist, these droughts are applying pressure on rivers and aquifers, leading to water supply problems in some urban centres.

“In France, the mega-basins are financed by public funds, but then the water is privatised, with only a few dozen people able to benefit from it,” Marandola pointed out. In Spain, the management of the embalses is still in the hands of the public water authority.

Martínez, however, explained that in addition to these reservoirs, there are also private “irrigation basins”, which are abundant in Spain and escape regulation. Farmers do not hesitate to tap into groundwater.

Water is a “common good of mankind” and companies should not be allowed to monopolise it, French anti-basin activists reiterate in their demonstrations.

“Stop the agro-industrial model that monopolises water for the benefit of a minority,” said the member of the European Parliament (MEP) Emma Fourreau, the only MEP present at the demonstration against the basins on Saturday (20 July).

The opponents are also questioning the agricultural model that promotes the export of water-consuming cereals, largely used to feed livestock.

“Italy loses 89% of its rainwater every year. This is an unacceptable waste in a country at great risk of desertification and with chronic water shortages in certain regions,” the Italian union Coldiretti said in a press release.

Like French farmers’ union FNSEA, Coldiretti believes that “we need to step up freshwater collection by improving infrastructure”.