Freshwater for all: Europe faces up to the challenge

Europe is lucky: overall, water quality is improving and there's a good level of access to drinking water. But with the challenges brought on by climate change and soaring demand, new approaches are being adopted to improve cleanliness, distribution and recycling.

At Lake Constance in Germany, they've achieved development without cutting water quality:

The rule is simple: the less polluted the water, the less it has to be cleaned. It's an example to follow, at a time when the new European directive on drinking water aims to guarantee access to quality water for all.

Friedrichshafen is the city where the Zeppelin was invented. It's also on the shores of Lake Constance, the largest drinking water reservoir in Europe. Millions drink the water - and it's the pride of the city.

This region's also at the forefront of the new battle against micro-pollutants.

"We're using more and more chemicals at home, with household products," French scientist Marie Launay, Head of the Micro-Pollutants Competence Center at Baden-Württemberg explains. "We're using more medicines, more pesticides too. And these substances, when they're persistent, they also persist in the environment and so it's important to eliminate them to preserve water quality."

Marie Launay heads a unit dedicated to tackling these micro-pollutants which are harmful to fish, ecosystems and humans. Part of the solution lies in the plants that treat used water before returning it to nature.

"Of course, we have to take care of the drinking water reservoir as much as possible," says Heiko Kiebler, Eriskirch Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager. "Because many people live off it - and that's why we have to try to treat the wastewater as well as we can."

For the state of Baden-Württemberg,