There are three main updates on the European water reuse policy:
(1) Water reuse in the Circular Economy Package (CEP) and the CEP Action plan for implementation,
(2) DG Environment activities on water reuse,
(3) Joint Research Centre (JRC) technical guidance on water reuse.

(1) Water reuse in the Circular Economy Package (CEP) and the CEP Action plan for implementation

Actions of the CEP to promote reuse of treated wastewater include:
Action 1: Proposed legislation setting minimum quality requirements for reused water for irrigation and groundwater recharge. If the impact assessment will have a positive outcome, the legislative proposal of the European Commission could be developed by mid-2017.

Non-legislative proposals: promotion of safe and cost-effective water reuse, include:
Action 2: Guidance on the integration of water reuse in water planning and management;
Action 3: Inclusion of best practices in relevant BREFs (Best available techniques Reference document);
Action 4: Support to innovation (through the European Innovation Partnership and Horizon 2020);
Action 5: Support to investments.


(2) DG Environment activities on water reuse

DG Environment is:
- finalising the guidance document on “Integrating Water Reuse in Water Planning and Management” (Action 2 of CEP):
The Guidance document is planned to be agreed at the Water Directors’ meeting in June 2016.
The purpose of the guidance document is to use it for the implementation of the 2nd River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and in the Programme of Measures (PoM) and to include water reuse action as a supplementary measure. In this way actions on water reuse will also contribute to a resource efficient economy in Europe.
The latest version (15.04.2016) of the guidance document is available from here.

- and creating a new Ad-hoc Technical Group (ATG) and Terms of References. Member states and organisations can join this group and contribute to the process.
DG Environment is also launching the Ad-hoc Technical Group to further facilitate the actions on water reuse in the context of water in the Circular Economy Package. In this frame, DG Environment is elaborating Terms of Reference(ToR) for this group to ensure that ToR covers the water aquis, as well as BREFs under the Industrial Emissions Directive. In this way DG ENV strives to ensure that ATG will completely cover water reuse aspect and fully supports the CEP Action Plan implementation for water.

The objective of the group is to develop a guidance on the minimum standards for water reuse for various purposes. Currently, 16 Member States and 10 organisations expressed the interest to join this group. Here is an opportunity to join this group and to contribute to the process.

                                                                                                                                                      
(3) Joint Research Centre (JRC) technical guidance on water reuse

The JRC is working on a technical guidance on minimum quality requirements at EU level for water reuse and on a case study on water reuse standards. The JRC guidance is based on the review of other guidelines and standards within and outside the EU, such as from IWA, ISO, WHO, Australian guidelines, etc.

The timetable of the development of the JRC technical guidance is the following:
- A consolidated draft technical report will be presented at the Water Director’s meeting in June.
- The guidance will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) and SCHER opinion on the draft JRC report “The minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge” will be issued in October 2016.
- The JRC technical proposal to DG Environment of the European Commission is planned to be ready by the end 2016.
Member States expressed the opinion that the JRC guidance document could be useful in 2018-19 as a significant input as a follow up action after the legislative proposal for water reuse will be drafted by the European Commission.

As soon the JRC guidance document will be available it will be published on Vlakwa website.

For more information, please contact Violeta Kuzmickaite.