Drinking water is a luxury. In 30 years it may be completely gone. Also in Poland

– More people in the world have a mobile phone than have access to running water – says Piotr Nieznański, activist and hero of the documentary “To the Last Drop” directed by Ewa Ewart. And it will get worse because water is running out. Already 2 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water, over 4 billion do not have sanitary facilities at home, and 3 billion do not even have a way to wash their hands. 100 million Europeans have problems with access to water; Southern Europe is in the worst situation due to droughts, although the whole of Europe is struggling with water problems to varying degrees. Poland, where only one in 10 rivers is in good ecological condition, is one of the countries with the smallest water resources in the EU. Only Cyprus and Malta are behind us.

Measles died for 500 km

Although over 70 percent surface is covered with water, the vast majority of it is salty water, which is unsuitable for consumption. Only 1 percent of which are freshwater sources, including lakes, rivers and glaciers, the ecological condition of which leaves much to be desired. Researchers predict that if nothing changes, we will run out of drinking water in 27 years, i.e. in 2050.

– This is an optimistic scenario – Ewa Ewart tells DW. In her film, she showed rivers in six countries, including the Oder, which was poisoned last year. – The measles were dying over a distance of 500 km, 360 tons of dead fish were caught from it, it’s a huge tragedy – says the director. She also showed the Italian Sarno, considered the dirtiest river in Europe. In each country, she talked to activists fighting to protect rivers. In an interview with DW, she admitted that she came up with the idea for the film by accident. – I was shooting a documentary with the crew about the clearing of the Amazon forest in . At one point, the head of the local community took us to the river, put on a white latex glove and dipped his hand in the water. The glove was quickly covered with a dirty, oily liquid. “Look,” he said. “This water was left behind by the company that cut down the forest,” says Ewart.

Today, there is no doubt that rivers are the most polluted reservoirs in the world. The blame for this lies both with the industry that pollutes rivers or thoughtlessly changes their course, and with man himself who willingly throws garbage into them. And not only. – 2 million people drink water contaminated with feces – Nieznański informs in the film. In his opinion, our mistake is that we have started taking water for granted. – We wake up in the morning, turn on the tap, take a shower, do something. What if one day there is simply no water in the tap? – asks the hero of “To the Last Drop”.

Next to the Green one, the Blue Order

Brussels also sees the water problem. That is why some institutions want the European Union to adopt a separate strategy devoted exclusively to water. A year ago, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) launched a Blue Deal strategy entirely dedicated to water protection. At a similar time, a special Water Group was established. Now both institutions are joining forces; On Thursday (October 26), a formal application for the establishment of an EU-wide water policy was submitted to the European Commission.

It is true that water protection is included in the EU strategy, but so far the EU has not achieved any significant successes in this field. – Water provisions in the Green Deal are insufficient and too fragmented, and as a result, water-related goals are left behind. We need a coherent strategy, coordinated actions and adequate funds for key investments that will secure access to water for Europeans. This is urgent because the situation is getting worse, droughts are becoming more severe, extreme floods, and climate change are all affecting our water situation faster than we expected, says EESC President Oliver Roepke to DW.

The Blue Deal would change this by introducing, among other things, actions to better manage water in the EU, increase its availability, but also guarantee sustainable consumption. The institutions want the Blue Deal to become one of the key strategies during its new mandate. And although the new EC will not be established until next year, after the European elections (scheduled for June), talks on this subject are already underway. According to officials, an indication that the future EC may actually undertake work in this area is the fact that the president of the institution devoted a fragment of her September State of the Union address to water.

– We never assumed that this would be a strategy that would replace the Green Deal, but we want it to complement it. However, we see that if there is no proper coordination of activities at the EU level, some of them will exclude each other. For example, we are moving away from coal in favor of hydrogen, and rightly so, but we should be aware that this will increase water consumption. So let’s take steps to ensure that our goals are not contradictory, says Roepke.

As Danish MEP Pernille Weiss (EPP), chairwoman of the Water Group in the European Parliament, notes, actions for water are not only about improving its quality. – We need water to produce energy, obtain critical raw materials, produce food, infrastructure, conduct research and ensure biodiversity – says the politician.

Failure to do so will cost more

Critics of the Green Deal say that the strategy is too expensive and that the crisis-torn EU simply cannot afford new investments in climate defense. – I expect that similar accusations will be made regarding the Blue Deal. However, I think that many of the costs associated with the Green Deal result from the fact that we started acting too late and did not anticipate all the measures that would need to be used, Oliver Roepke tells DW.

In his opinion, this lesson will help avoid similar mistakes when implementing the EU water strategy. – We have research that shows that the costs of not taking action related to water can be five times higher than if these actions were taken immediately. If we do not react faster, we will have even less access to water in the future, argues the head of the EESC. And yet, as the characters in Ewa Ewart’s documentary say, water is a human right.