WATER ABSTRACTION

Last update
21.11.2012

Key question

Is water in the Czech Republic being used efficiently with respect to preserving the availability of water sources for the future?

Key message

	Since 2000, water abstraction for public water supply systems and industry has continued to decline, but at a slower rate than in the 1990s. The proportion of the population connected to water supply systems have been increasing; 93% of the Czech Republic´s population are supplied with quality drinking water. The consumption of water from public water supply systems has been decreasing.
	Since 2002, there is a slowdown in the decline of total water abstraction and in recent years, the stagnating trend prevails. The sectors that have experienced an increase in water abstraction since 2000 are energy, agriculture and other sectors (including construction).

Overall assessment	Change since 1990	Change since 2000	Last year-to-year change

The Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23rd October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (the Water Framework Directive) aims, inter alia, at efficient and sustainable use of water. Water abstraction should respect the requirements for water use, for the good condition and ecological limits of water bodies in order to prevent these resources and related aquatic ecosystems from being damaged by overexploitation. The Member States are to work out River Basin Management Plans for their respective territories; the Plans should include programmes of measures to gradually remove the most significant water management problems and to achieve a good state of both surface water and groundwater within three six-year planning periods by the year 2027.

An important strategic document, which is not directly required by the Water Framework Directive, is the Plan of Major River Basin Districts of the Czech Republic, which is a concept in the area of water management for the period 2007–2012, and its specific aim is to ensure a smooth supply of the population and other consumers with sanitary and high-quality water. Legislative requirements on the drinking water quality and control in the Czech Republic are based on the Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3rd November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Also the Conception of the Agrarian Policy of the Czech Republic for the Period after EU Accession (2004–2013) and the Conception of Water Management Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic till 2015 aim at creating the conditions for sustainable management of limited water wealth of the Czech Republic, which will allow to harmonise the requirements for all forms of using water resources with the requirements for the protection of water and aquatic ecosystems whilst taking account of measures to reduce the harmful effects of water. The mid-term strategy of state policy concerning water supply and sewerage systems before 2015 is presented in the Development Plan for Water Supply and Sewerage Systems in the Czech Republic.

Chart 2: Water consumption by households, the Czech Republic [l per capita per day]
Source: The Czech Statistical Office

Chart 3: The price of water – average water rate and average sewage rate, the Czech Republic [CZK per m³]
Source: The Czech Statistical Office

Chart 4: Water losses in distribution systems, the Czech Republic [%]
Source: The Czech Statistical Office

Chart 5: Water abstraction (for the last available year, see data), an international comparison [m³ per capita]
Source: Eurostat

Indicator assessment – text part

The reduction of total water abstraction is a long-term trend. In the 1990s, the decline was related particularly to the reduction of industrial production as a result of the national economy´s restructuring, and also to decreasing water intensity of the industrial technologies. In the last five years, the total volume of abstracted water has stabilized. Individual sectors account for differing proportions of water abstraction (1,892.8 mil. m3 in 2011). There are significant differences also between abstractions from surface and groundwater sources. Of the total volume of water taken, 20.0% is collected from groundwater sources. Since 2000, groundwater abstraction has been going down, however, in the last interannual comparison, it increased slightly (by 1.4 mil. m3, i.e. by 0.4%), namely due to increasing abstraction in the industry, agriculture and other sectors (including construction).

Most water is collected in the energy sector (48.2% of the total abstraction in 2011, i.e. 60.1% of surface water abstraction and 0.7% of groundwater abstraction) which took the biggest part in fluctuations of the total water abstraction in the last ten years. The reason consists in gradual putting into operation of power stations that use water for once-through cooling. Most of the water abstracted for cooling in the energy sector is returned to the watercourses with a slightly amended quality (temperature increase, lower oxygen content); a part of the water is lost by evaporation. On the other hand, water abstraction for agriculture is steadily low (2.1% of the total abstraction in 2011); in the case of crop farming, it usually has enough rainwater and the interannual fluctuations depend on the temperature development and the amount of precipitation during the growing season. Abstraction for the industry sector (including mining and quarrying) shows a long-term decline (by 39.5% since 2000), while the last interannual decrease (2010/2011) amounted to 2.1%. At present, this decrease is related rather to the introduction of new, less demanding production technologies, not only for environmental reasons but also because of efficiency. Economic development in the sectors with the highest abstraction (food, chemical and paper industries) also influences the total abstraction in the industry sector. In 2011, water abstraction in the industry sector accounted for 16.0% from surface sources and 9.2% from groundwater sources. A long-term decline in abstraction is shown also in the sector with the second largest volume of total abstraction (33.9%), i.e. public water supply system.

Drinking water abstraction is falling, likewise in the industry, thanks to the introduction of environment-friendly technologies to save drinking water, and also because of rising prices. The total of 48.8% of water abstraction to produce drinking water comes from groundwater sources which are of better quality and require less treatment. Nevertheless, abstraction from groundwater sources may contribute to the decline in groundwater supplies because the time for the water to get back to groundwater sources is longer than the time necessary in the case of surface sources. General risks for water supply are also connected with changes in the intensity and seasonality of rainfall and with lower infiltration in soil, which can be caused by anthropogenic interference in the landscape (soil compaction, development).

In 2011, the total of 486 million m3 of drinking water were invoiced, of which 65.3% accounted for abstraction for households, the remaining part was consumed by the industry (11.8%), agriculture (1.7%) and other customers. In general, the total quantity of invoiced drinking water declined by 9.7% in the Czech Republic since 2000. In the last seven year, the quantity of invoiced drinking water has a declining trend, which is caused mainly by a reduction of supplies for households and for the category of other operators (e.g. building industry). This declining trend is also reflected in the water consumption calculated per capita, where the specific consumptive use of the water produced in 2011 (174.1 l.capita-1.day-1) accounts for 73.2% of the 2000 value (238.0 l.capita-1.day-1). Reduction of the quantity of water produced is also derived from the reduction of drinking water loss in distribution networks (at present the loss is below 20%, in 2000 it was 25%) and from reducing the water consumption in households. Since 2000, water consumption in households keeps decreasing steadily, in spite of the fact that the number of inhabitants supplied with drinking water from public water supply systems is growing; currently it is 9.8 million people (93% of the Czech Republic´s population). Reduced water consumption in households is influenced by the water rate, which keeps growing in long terms and increased by 5.8% interannually, and by massive expansion of water-saving appliances.

In an international comparison, water abstraction per capita in the Czech Republic is below the European average. Within the EU, water abstraction per capita depends mainly on physical and geographic conditions (such as climate, relief, natural water sources) and on the technologies used to generate electricity (cooling of energy devices). Therefore, the top places are occupied by states with high abstractions in agriculture, due to irrigation in drier and warmer Mediterranean areas (Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy), and states with high demands for water in the energy sector for the cooling purposes (Estonia, Bulgaria, Lithuania). Changes in the availability of water resources and possible threats as a result of so-called water stress are expected for the future due to the influence of climate change.

Data sources

Czech Statistical Office
T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute (a public research institution)
Ministry of Agriculture
Podniky povodí, state enterprises
European Environment Agency (EEA)
Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Union

Links to additional information

European Environment Agency, international indicators (CSI 018)
Water Supply, Sewerage and Watercourses, The Czech Statistical Office tables
Report on the state of Water Management in the Czech Republic