The European Commission (EC) is continuously working hand in hand with the representatives of the decision makers from the EU member states in the frame of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) to support the implementation of the EU water policy. The following articles will offer you the EU water policy updates on three topics:

• Water and agriculture;
• Water and nutrients: new Best Practice Guide
• Drinking Water directive: update requires changes?

Drinking Water Directive: update requires changes?

One of the current DG Environment 2016-2017 tasks related to the drinking water is the revision of the Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) (DWD).

From the EU regulatory point of view, the directive has two objectives: to protect human health from the averse effects of any contamination, and to ensure that drinking water at the customer tap is wholesome clean.

However, from the systemic perspective and taking into account a holistic approach to the drinking water cycle, drinking water abstraction is not reflected in the current text of the DWD, but only it appears in article 7 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EU).

A short-term strategy in addressing drinking water issues at the EU was devoted to update technical annexes of the DWD (Annex II and III) adapting them to the recent technological achievements. The result of these adaptations lead to the DWD update (2015/1987/EC) in 2015 replacing two Annexes of the DWD. This new update came into force since 27.10.2015 and to be transposed into national legislation within 24 months.

The evaluation of the drinking water directive is underway. It is reflected in the EC roadmap published in June 2015. The work has been followed by launching a study of the DWD assessment, with some developments available to download from here www.safe2drink.eu. A summary of the DWD short assessment on effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and relevancy as well as added value resulted to some conclusions: “DWD is coherent with WFD and, the most important, DWD and WFD ensures protection of drinking water resources. Relevance of DWD could be improved to avoid non-compliance via water safety planning and risk assessment measures and polution reduction at source.”

Next steps of the DWD revision process is under way. The EC is planing to have the evaluation report of the DWD in 2016. Draft final version of the study is already available online since December 2015. A short Commission staff working document (SWD) is planned to be available in 2016 where political validation, decision on the revision of DWD will be reflected. In paralel to it, DWD impact assessment study is an ongoing EC activity where the expected results on developing new policy options for drinking water in Europe and impacts to it will be presented.

Expected action: If large drinking water users (such as agro-food, chemical, electronics) have some concerns, ideas about the current Drinking Water Directive, please do not hesitate to contact us providing your input.

For further information, please contact Violeta Kuzmickaite