The current condition of Europe’s seas is generally poor according to the EEA report ‘Marine Messages II’
Water and marine environment
Subtopics
Securing the sustainable use of water remains a key challenge
Clean water is an essential resource for human health, agriculture, energy production, transport and nature. But it is also under multiple pressures. Currently, only 40% of Europe’s surface water bodies achieve good ecological status. In addition, even though EU countries have managed to reduce selected pressures, the status of our marine ecosystems remains critical, both in terms of species and habitats. More efforts are needed to achieve Europe's freshwater and marine-related environmental targets.
Europe has a great diversity of beautiful beaches and bathing areas, and each year millions of Europeans spend their weekends at their local beach or their holidays cooling down by the water. Many citizens have a keen interest in the quality of bathing waters.
State of bathing waters in 2019
This map shows bathing water locations and their quality for the latest as well as previous bathing seasons. All symbols are coloured according to achieved quality status in the most recent season. Data are presented on two levels: country (less detailed scales) and bathing water (more detailed scales).
Data sources:
- Bathing Water Directive - Status of bathing water provided by Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) and European Environment Agency (EEA)
Most of Europe’s drinking water and a significant proportion of water used in irrigation come from groundwater. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today on World Water Day, provides a European overview of this key resource that is under increasing pressure from pollution, abstraction and climate change.
Pesticides can end up in rivers, lakes and groundwaters, with potential to harm aquatic ecosystems and water quality. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) new indicator, which aims to track Europe’s progress in reducing pesticides in waters, shows that excessive levels of pesticides have been recorded in a considerable share of European freshwaters.
Collection and treatment of waste water are key to reducing pressures and risks to human health and the environment, especially to rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published data today, on World Toilet Day, which show that the share of urban waste waters that are collected and treated in line with EU standards is increasing across Europe.
Published: 22 Mar 2022
Groundwater, making the invisible visible is the World Water Day theme for 22nd March 2022. Groundwater stores almost 1/3 of global total freshwater resources, but pollution may prevent its use. In the EU, groundwater supplies 65 % of drinking water and 25 % of the water for agricultural irrigation. Groundwater pollution is a serious threat to drinking water quality. Once polluted, recovery is not easily achieved because there is no fast way to remove pollutants. This also means that polluting substances can accumulate. Furthermore, groundwater resources are under increasing pressure from water abstraction and climate change. In the EU, 24% of the total groundwater body area was reported in poor chemical status and 9 % in poor quantitative status according to Water Framework Directive 2nd River Basin Management reports in 2016. This briefing provides an overview on the state of the art with groundwater in the EU as contribution to the celebration of the World Water Day in 2022.
Published: 27 Oct 2021
This report aims to update our knowledge of water stress (a general term that includes drought and water scarcity) in Europe to inform policymakers and interested stakeholders about the current state of play.
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Most of Europe’s drinking water and a significant proportion of water used in irrigation come from groundwater. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today on World Water Day, provides a European overview of this key resource that is under increasing pressure from pollution, abstraction and climate change.
Pesticides can end up in rivers, lakes and groundwaters, with potential to harm aquatic ecosystems and water quality. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) new indicator, which aims to track Europe’s progress in reducing pesticides in waters, shows that excessive levels of pesticides have been recorded in a considerable share of European freshwaters.
Collection and treatment of waste water are key to reducing pressures and risks to human health and the environment, especially to rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published data today, on World Toilet Day, which show that the share of urban waste waters that are collected and treated in line with EU standards is increasing across Europe.
About 30 % of Europe’s population is affected by water stress during an average year. The situation is expected to worsen as climate change is increasing the frequency, magnitude, and impact of droughts. A European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment, published today, presents the current state of water stress in Europe with the aim to put focus on managing water availability risks under the impacts of changing climate.
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The European Union has embarked on ambitious plans to drastically reduce emissions and pollution over the coming decades. Part of this includes the recently launched Zero Pollution Action Plan which will focus on cutting air, water and soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and the environment. We sat down with Ian Marnane, EEA environment, health and well-being expert working on an upcoming EEA report on Zero Pollution, which is expected to be published later this year.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) have recently published the European Maritime Transport Environmental Report (EMTER), which is a joint assessment about the environmental impacts of maritime transport in Europe. We interviewed Stéphane Isoard, Head of group for water and marine topics at the EEA, who was leading the EEA team working on the report.
Water covers more than 70 % of the Earth’s surface and is essential to all life on our planet. Of all the Earth’s water, 96.5 % is contained within the oceans as salt water, whereas the remaining 3.5 % is freshwater — lakes, rivers, groundwater and ice. Good management of this limited and precious resource is indispensable for the well-being of people and nature.
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Groundwater, making the invisible visible is the World Water Day theme for 22nd March 2022. Groundwater stores almost 1/3 of global total freshwater resources, but pollution may prevent its use. In the EU, groundwater supplies 65 % of drinking water and 25 % of the water for agricultural irrigation. Groundwater pollution is a serious threat to drinking water quality. Once polluted, recovery is not easily achieved because there is no fast way to remove pollutants. This also means that polluting substances can accumulate. Furthermore, groundwater resources are under increasing pressure from water abstraction and climate change. In the EU, 24% of the total groundwater body area was reported in poor chemical status and 9 % in poor quantitative status according to Water Framework Directive 2nd River Basin Management reports in 2016. This briefing provides an overview on the state of the art with groundwater in the EU as contribution to the celebration of the World Water Day in 2022.
Water resources across Europe — confronting water stress: an updated assessment
Publication 27 Oct 2021This report aims to update our knowledge of water stress (a general term that includes drought and water scarcity) in Europe to inform policymakers and interested stakeholders about the current state of play.
Drivers of and pressures arising from selected key water management challenges — A European overview
Publication 23 Sep 2021This report aims to give a European overview of the main drivers and pressures that are at the core of key water management challenges and which put European water bodies most at risk of not achieving key environmental objectives. Identifying the pressures from and drivers of key water management challenges at the European level can help in prioritising the main issues that should be tackled with measures.
This report provides a factual analysis of the environmental pressures exerted by the maritime transport sector, presents up-to-date information on the relevant EU and international environmental standards and describes current and future actions to reduce the sector's impact on our environment.
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