Il principio del recupero dei costi e l'accesso all'acqua nel diritto dell'Unione Europea

In the context of the European Union, one of the main pieces of secondary legislation on water - the so-called Water Framework Directive (WFD) - pursues the environmental objective of protecting and restoring all bodies of surface water and groundwater by establishing the principle of recovery of costs of water services in conjunction with the polluter pays principle. National water-pricing policies should then ensure a complete recovery of the costs associated with the extraction and provision of water, to incentivise an efficient use of water and discourage waste. This article enquires on critical areas of implementation of these principles in Member States' legal orders, with specific reference to issues of economic affordability and quality of water services for private households. To do so, this article will pay a special attention to judicial interpretations of EU law carried out by domestic courts in Italy and France (two Member States where the legal and political debate on the management of water services has been particularly lively in recent years).