Non-energy, non-agriculture raw materials production: data to monitor the sector’s water use and emissions to water

Abstract

Water is an essential resource in the operation and sustainability of facilities producing raw materials, which is used and impacted in multiple ways. Therefore, there is a need for sound data to monitor the EU sector water performance and its pressures on the environment from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. This study assesses available water data for a well-informed EU raw materials policy which covers the extraction of non-fuel, non-agricultural raw materials. In this study, EU available national level data on water use and water pollution were assessed. We found that official records are limited for a comprehensive assessment of the sector, and accessible water accounting by the industry is poor. Limited country and sector coverage and comparability of different datasets illustrate some of the challenges faced to provide sound data to some policy making areas. This highlights the need to combine data from official, scientific and industry data sources, yet this remains challenging. Therefore, the improvement in the systematic compilation of comprehensive, detailed and validated raw data related to water use, water pollution and industrial production remains the main priority.