Water is under stress when we use 20 percent of renewable freshwater resources, and severely stressed at 40 per cent, according to the European Environment Agency's (EEA) Water Exploitation Index Plus (WEI+). Today, 30 percent of Europeans and 20 percent of land face water scarcity each year, according to the European Commission.
Current temperatures deepen Europe's water crisis as heat dries soils and shrinks rivers. Behind the heat lies a water system already pushed to its limits. Decades of pollution, overuse, and resource mismanagement have harmed water bodies, leaving the EU with few reserves to fight today’s water crisis.
