David Aubin

The Evolution of European Water Policy

Depletion of water resources in Europe has been a continuous process for forty years. Human water uses have increased throughout the period, with no consideration for a resource that was initially imagined to be self-purifying. Observations of the consequences of anthropocentric use were conducted starting in the 1960s, made possible by the development of science. Emerging scientific knowledge in the environmental field appeared with the concept of ecosystems (Delort and Walter, 2001). Since then, the environment progressively started to enter the arenas of decision-making at all levels. A series of measures being taken in order to improve the quality of surface water, are based on the assumption that if we dilute sufficiently polluted substances, then the self-purification capacities will restore the water. This initial idea is supplemented by a prohibition/regulation of emissions of hazardous substances, e.g. heavy metals, which cannot be diluted or absorbed by the environment. Since then, environmental legislation has developed according to a process of trial and error in parallel with quality assessment methods and data collection. Assessment reports continuously demonstrate that we are failing to reach our initial objectives, despite much improvement. “In spite of the introduction of water quality objectives in the EU and the attention given to water quality in the ecological action program for the central and eastern European countries, no global improvement of the quality of water bodies has been observed since 1989/90. The European countries refer to different evolutions without any coherent geographical structure. However some improvements are observed in the most polluted water bodies since the 1970s”.1 Nowadays we observe that additional measures are necessary to halt the depletion of the water resource.2

The Evolution of the Water Regimes in Belgium

Belgium is usually described in the political literature as a paradigmatic example of consensual (power-sharing) democracy (Lijphart, 1999). Belgian society is divided along three cleavages lines, initially religious and later socio-economic and linguistic, that structure both political parties (three-party system expanding in the 1960s to regionalist parties1) and pillar organisations. The country has a parliamentary polity. Proportional representation was introduced in 1899. The linguistic cleavage, in particular, coupled with a shift in the economic dominance from Wallonia to Flanders, led to major institutional transformations that partially explain the current divergence in regional institutional water regimes.

Diverging Regimes within a Recently Federalised State

Belgium is a wet country that paradoxically has few water resources at its disposal, considering the high population density. Furthermore, the country faces major regional disparities. Flanders is dependent on Wallonia for 60% of its drinking water needs. There are a series of recurrent problems with water management: regular floods in many places due to major rainfalls in wintertime and serious problems with the pollution of surface and groundwater. A combination of a high population density, a long industrial tradition and intensive agriculture are increasing the pressure on the resource. The significant demand for drinking water leads to total exploitation of the aquifers. Nevertheless, improvements are being made in the fight against pollution. New uses and concerns appear with the development of leisure activities. The population is more aware of environmental concerns and is developing a greater consideration for nature. In this context potential rivalries between heterogeneous groups of uses and users are to be expected. The selected stories of local water management in Belgium reflect these problems and evolution.