Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002419/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
César Luena (S&D)
According to the European Water Resilience Strategy, desalination of seawater can provide a steady supply of water in addition to what the hydrological cycle provides. However, it remains costly, energy-intensive and has a significant environmental impact. The strategy also mentions that the Commission will support innovation in this field with the aim of limiting energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in particular by promoting the use of renewable forms of energy. Innovative solutions should also mitigate the environmental impacts of brine disposal and increase recycling and reuse of energy and minerals contained in brine in the industrial sector.
In view of the increasing support that desalination is receiving as a solution to water scarcity:
How will the Commission ensure that, given its high environmental and energy impact, this technique does not perpetuate unsustainable patterns of consumption, and that it is limited exclusively to scenarios where all measures in place to save and reuse water and to use it more efficiently have proved insufficient?
Submitted: 16.6.2025