Rapport JRC "A European assessment of freshwater availability and nutrient pollution"
This report presents an assessment of European freshwater availability and nutrient pollution, including and historical analysis and future scenarios of measures to reduce water scarcity and nutrient pollution.
The ambitious measures imply drastic changes in several sectors, including agriculture with major social and economic impacts on farmers. Even though the ambitious scenario is realistic, implementing it requires a high political will. Modelling assessments have uncertainties and remain theoretical. Concerning modelling nutrient pollution in waters, a main source of uncertainty is the capacity to take into account the legacy of nitrogen and phosphorus in soils and groundwater, and to estimate the delay in time between the application of measures and the detection of improvements in water quality.