Although I often grumble about living in a kind of weather bubble here in Epsom (which really just means that I rarely wake up to a blanket of snow outside) I did feel blessed this week, seeing the damage Britain's worst storm in 30 years has caused to hundreds of homes, shops and other businesses. It's heartbreaking - particularly when one considers that many of those that had to vacate severely flooded premises during the last heavy storms have only recently managed to move back in.

With all this water about, it's easy to forget that there is actually a shortage of the stuff, isn't it? Yet more than 11% of Europeans and 17% of Europe's territory have been affected by water scarcity in recent years, costing the EU an estimated €100 billion in damages and lost economic potential.

Reporting from last week's water conference, EurActiv said that the consensus is that there is enough legislation regarding the use of water but too little compliance and insufficient enforcement. Conservation groups, including the European Environment Bureau, have criticised the EU and national governments for failing to enforce water efficiency and pollution policies.

In 2006, the EEB and another campaign organisation, the WWF, filed a complaint with the European Commission against Austria, Germany, Poland and eight other countries, charging that they failed to comply with provisions of the 2000 Water Framework Directive. In May, the EEB acknowledged in an analysis of a blueprint shortly being tabled which aims to address the problems, that while the Water Framework Directive "has helped to keep water issues on the political agenda" and improved trans-boundary cooperation, it "has achieved little progress" in the areas of integrating water with energy, transportation and farming policies."

Let's hope that this blueprint really gets to grip with the problems and paves the way for us to finally start pulling together more effectively to conserve this most valuable of resources.

Yours,

Jan Hobbs