Environmental assessment of introducing a public drinking fountain within San Leo town
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Abstract
A vast majority of the European population lives and works in cities, consuming an estimated 80% of the
energy used in the EU. Local administrations, as the closest government level to citizens, are ideally placed to
address climate issues in a comprehensive manner. In this field a most promising initiative is the Covenant of
Mayors (EUMayors, 2013), a voluntary European movement involving local and regional committed to reduce CO2
emissions through increased energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources. The reference
document is EU 2020 (COM, 2010), the European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth aimed at
achieve substantial objectives by 2020, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared
to 1990 level; the increase to 20% of the share of renewable energy sources in the final energy consumption and a
20% increase in energy efficiency. As in general way, also for the accomplishment of the EU 2020 emission and
energy targets, local authorities play a key role and Covenant of Mayor endorses and supports remarkably the efforts
deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy policies.
Currently, about 5000 signatories cities (EUMayors, 2013), with different size from small villages to major
metropolitan areas are involved in the Covenant of Mayor. All the signatories are committed to implement
sustainable energy policies to meet and exceed the EU 20% CO2 reduction objective through increased energy
efficiency and development of renewable energy sources. These actions serve as examples for others to follow and
an increasing number of municipalities are showing the political will to sign up to the Covenant. Finally, movements
such as Covenant of Mayors endorse local authorities to respond several sustainability issues such as the strong
social demand for better health, softer modes of transport, more natural areas in the cities, shorter circuits for food
supply, shorter distances between working, living and leisure areas, reduced vulnerability to global economic shocks,
especially for the poorest populations, and the creation of local and sustainable jobs. In other words, the endorsement
of local authorities is crucial to improve the quality of life of their citizens and to face the challenge of sustainability.
Another critical issue observed at urban level concerns the development of integrated solutions for drinking
water usage and for water management. In fact, the 60% of all water is allocated to domestic human use (Toppeta,
2010) and by 2025 the water demand in municipal areas will increase by almost 80 billions cubic metres (Doobs,
2012). Worldwide, 44% of people are living in water stressed areas, and this number (o this rate) is expected to grow
dramatically in the next future (Dirks and Keeling, 2009). Particularly, freshwater consumption is expected to rise of
25% by 2030, due largely to the increase in urban population (Washburn et al., 2010). There is the need to implement
innovative solutions and at the same time to increase awareness among users, with the aim to locate distribution and to optimize usage of municipal drinking wate