Strengthening International Water Security: The European Union’s proposal

• Author: Grazia Scocca
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wwp2.12014
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Date: 01 November 2019

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wwp2 World Water Policy. 2019;5:192–206.

© 2019 Policy Studies Organization.

Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DOI: 10.1002/wwp2.12014

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Strengthening International Water Security:

The European Union’s proposal

GraziaScocca

This article was presented during the international conference Health and the Environment in International Law: Actors,

Norms and Responsibilities hosted by the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg on 18 October 2018.

International Law,University of Salerno

– University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg,

France

Correspondence

Grazia Scocca, International Law,

University of Salerno – University of

Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.

Email: graziascocca@gmail.com

Abstract

The UN World Health Organization reports that 80% of dis-

eases are waterborne. Bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases

like typhoid, cholera, amebiasis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis A,

skin infection, and gastrointestinal are spread through pol-

luted water. In 2013, the UN Water defined water security as

“The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access

to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sus-

taining livelihoods, human well‐being, and socio‐economic

development, for ensuring protection against water‐borne

pollution and water‐related disasters, and for preserving

ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability”. The

notion is quite new, but it does not mean that international

law does not include rules and principles relevant to water

security. Compared to some other regions in the world, most

people living in Europe already enjoy very good access to

high‐quality drinking water, in part thanks to over 30years

of European Union legislation for ensuring drinking water

quality. On February 2018, pressed by the successful result

of the first European Citizens' Initiative “Right2Water,” the

European Commission proposed to revise the European

Union legislation for improving access to higher quality of

drinking water and provide better information to citizens.

Considering the latest scientific knowledge and recommen-

dations of the World Health Organization, the proposal made

by the Commission suggests improving water quality by