Text tabled : A7-0192/2012

  Andreas Mölzer (NI), in writing. – (DE) To get straight to the heart of the matter: water is essential for our survival. We must use water sustainably, so that enough high-quality water is available for all our ecosystems. This is the only way in which they can function effectively and provide important services for food security, health, society and the economy. We urgently need to monitor the state of the European water network in order to assess its quality, deterioration and interconnectivity, given the possibility that as much as 70% of the water supplied to European cities is wasted as a result of leaks in the water system. Therefore, it is also important to ensure that the quality of water across all the EU countries is roughly the same. However, I am opposed to interfering with the Member States’ control over their own water supplies. It will, of course, be important to take measures to improve water efficiency in buildings, for example, so that water is not wasted unnecessarily. We also need to take agriculture into consideration, which requires large volumes of water, so we must promote water-saving processes and technologies as far as possible. It would also be beneficial to run campaigns to explain to citizens where and how they can effectively save water. As I believe in improving the legislation on water and I am assuming that there will be successful results in the near future, I have voted in favour of the motion.