The islands of Vis and Lastovo can soon become great examples of responsible water management for all European islands.
MEP Tonino Picula, board member of the European Parliament Intergroup for Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas, recently launched a project in collaboration with the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Titled ‘Water Saving Challenge’ (WaSaC), the international project entails creating water management models on European islands, reports Morski.hr on September 21, 2017. WaSaC will be implemented on 8 islands: two in France, two in Greece, two in Ireland, and the remaining two in Croatia – Vis and Lastovo.
Hotel Biševo in Komiža town on Vis will host the central project conference this Friday, September 22, in order to present preliminary research results. As part of the conference, Picula is organising a public panel discussion titled ‘Active Islands – Far from the Coast, Close to Solutions’ to promote innovative projects and funding them through the use of EU funds.
“The project which we symbolically launched on World Water Day should help our islands to stop suffering from thirst. ‘Water Saving Challenge’ wants to save water on islands, but also aims to help island residents save money! The solutions we are looking for aren’t universal, so we’re planning to use diverse experiences of French, Greek, Irish and Croatian islands in development of water management models. In the end, they could serve as examples for other European islands, but also to coastal communities endangered by water shortage. We aim to decrease water consumption on the islands by using innovative technological solutions, as well as by changing irrational habits of consumption”, said Picula.
The Municipality of Lastovo implemented a project which entailed installing special extensions on water pipes, ones that will help rationalise water consumption. This initiative, along with the municipality’s willingness to share their experience with other islands, secured Lastovo’s place in WaSaC.
“Small and average-sized European islands are populated by more than 20 million people, and the water shortage problem doesn’t only affect the quality of everyday life, but can also endanger mere survival on the island in some cases. Vis and Lastovo can be great examples of water management to other islands that are facing a reduction of water supply”, concluded Picula.
Translated from Morski.hr.
