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The European Environment Agency (EEA) has released its latest report, “Europe’s State of Water 2024: The Need for Improved Water Resilience,” shedding light on the growing challenges to Europe’s water security. The report, which draws on data from the 3rd River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), highlights significant pressures on surface and groundwater bodies across Europe, emphasizing the need for immediate action to strengthen water resilience.

The EU Water Framework Directive aims to make all waters cleaner and healthier. To meet these requirements, the ICPDR's Danube River Basin Management Plan closely examines the most important pressures affecting water status.
Significant water management issues, called SWMIs, are the central pressures of basin-wide importance affecting the ecological and chemical status of surface waters, including pollution by organic substances, nutrients, and hazardous substances, as well as hydromorphological alterations. The first interim overview on the Significant Water Management Issues was created in 2007 for the 1st DRBM. The SWMIs outlined in this report were derived based on the requirements of the WFD and mainly related to quality aspects. For transboundary groundwater bodies, both qualitative and quantitative issues are addressed.

As the climate crisis worsens, severe droughts devastate European landscapes. According to the data published by the European Drought Observatory, more than 60% of land in the European Union and United Kingdom – an area nearly the same size as India (!) – is now affected by drought conditions. The Danube River Basin and the Danube itself have been affected by serious droughts in the past, e.g., in 2003, 2015, and now again one of the most feared natural phenomenon has gripped much of the Danube River Basin.