‘A war for water': Europe sounds the alarm on water stress ahead of another extreme summer

• Speaking at a European Parliament plenary session entitled "The Water Crisis in Europe," lawmakers called for increased action to preserve and improve the region's water resources.
• Record-breaking temperatures through spring and a historic winter heatwave have taken a visible toll on Europe's rivers, while protests have broken out over water shortages in both France and Spain.
• "Let us not be the continent that learns the value of water after the well has run dry," EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said Thursday.

European lawmakers issued a stark warning about the region's growing water crisis ahead of another extreme summer, saying there is a pressing need to tackle issues such as scarcity, food security and pollution.

Speaking at a European Parliament plenary session entitled "The Water Crisis in Europe" on Thursday, lawmakers called for increased action to preserve and improve water resources, already affected by several years of depleting groundwater levels as the climate crisis continues to intensify.

Record-breaking temperatures through spring and a historic winter heatwave have taken a visible toll on the region's rivers and ski slopes, while protests have broken out over water shortages in both France and Spain.

"Copernicus satellite imagery acts as a sad confirmation that many parts of the union face intense difficulty," EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said during her opening remarks.

"Some regions are suffering from water scarcity due to the droughts, while others are suffering from floods. Most are suffering from the consequences of water pollution but none of this is new."

Simson said the EU had implemented robust laws to protect water systems stretching back to the 1970s but conceded that the legislation and the way it had been implemented could only achieve so much.

"We have reached the point where we need to take a different approach," she added. "Let us not be the continent that learns the value of water after the well has run dry."

The plenary session took place in Strasbourg, France shortly after the European Environment Agency warned that the region was facing a summer of more frequent and extreme droughts, flooding, heatwaves, wildfires, and a rise in climate-sensitive diseases.

The EU's environment agency, in a report published Wednesday, described the overall outlook as "pessimistic."

It added that while the 27 EU states and European Economic Area members had national adaption policies in place, all of them could do much more to limit the negative effects of extreme weather this summer.

Some of the suggested measures included cities increasing the number of trees and water spaces — which can lower temperatures and reduce the risk of flooding — and farmers adapting crop varieties and changing sowing dates.

"We are seeing the consequences of the climate crisis and we're seeing this more clearly than ever. Europe is being affected by drought, rivers are drying up, and agriculture is under pressure, nature is suffering," Danish lawmaker Christel Schaldemose said Thursday, according to a translation.

"This is a war. A war for water," Schaldemose said.

"We must do everything in our power to try and put a stop to the fallout of climate change and indeed to counter it. But it is key, too, for us to understand how to manage our drinking water."

'This summer may be worst of all'

Sophie Trémolet, Europe freshwater director for The Nature Conservancy, an environmental non-profit, told CNBC that the summer ahead could surpass temperature records set last year, with "more antagonism" over water scarcity a likely prospect.

It not is not just a question of ample resources, however. Trémolet said water pollution and costs were also major concerns.

"Scarcity is one thing, but quality is also very important," Trémolet said. "Water pollution is driving costs higher."

Satellite data analyzed by researchers from Austria's University of Graz at the start of the year found that drought was impacting Europe on a much larger scale than researchers had previously expected.

The study was published after EU researchers found that Europe experienced its hottest summer ever last year, with the intense drought thought to be the worst the region had seen in at least 500 years.

"Summer after summer, Europe is suffering from a scarcity of water — and it just seems to get worse. This summer may be the worst of all," said Juan Ignacio Zoido Alvarez, a member of the European Parliament's committee on agriculture and rural development.

Alvarez, who previously served as Spain's interior minister, said Spanish water resources were currently at less than 50% of their capacity.

"The combination of a lack of rain and extreme temperatures is endangering our food security and the economic survival of millions of farmers," Alvarez said, according to a translation. He called for regional financial support measures to help those affected.

Salvatore De Meo, another MEP who serves on the committee on agriculture and rural development, said farming was one of the sectors likely to be hardest hit by diminishing water resources, making it more difficult to produce food.

"Our food security depends on the way we manage our water resources," De Meo said, according to a translation.