Helen Clayton, Policy Officer, Unit Clean Water, European Commission, DG Environment, at Europe That Protects - Safeguarding Our Planet, Safeguarding Our Health EU side event, 3-4 Dec 2019, THL, Helsinki

1. EU and national actions to protect citizens
from water pollution
Helen Clayton, ENV C1 Clean Water
European Commission
EU2019.FI Conference
Europe that Protects: Safeguarding our Planet,
Safeguarding our Health
3-4 December 2019, Helsinki

2. The water acquis
• Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD)
• Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC (amended 2014)
• Environmental Quality Standards Directive (EQSD)
2008/105/EC (amended 2013) / Watch List
• Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC
• Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC
• Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC
• Sewage Sludge Directive 86/278/EEC
• Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC
• Bathing Water Directive 2006/7/EC
• Floods Directive 2007/60/EC
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3. Selected relevant legislation/initiatives
• REACH
• Plant Protection Products Regulation
• Biocidal Products Regulation
• Pharmaceuticals authorisation legislation
• Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive; CAP
• Industrial Emissions Directive
• Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
• Environmental Liability Directive
• Waste Framework Directive; Landfill Directive
• Mining Waste Directive
• Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the
Environment
• Plastics Strategy
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4. Water Framework Directive (WFD)
Article 4: Good status objective
• Good ecological status/potential (surface waters)
• Good chemical status (surface and groundwaters)
• Good quantitative status (groundwaters)
NO DETERIORATION
Article 7: Waters used for the abstraction of
drinking water
NB Human health is one of the protection goals!
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5. Chemical pollution: surface waters
• WFD Article 16: Strategies against pollution of
water: requires “specific measures against
pollution of water by individual pollutants or
groups of pollutants presenting a significant risk
to or via the aquatic environment, including such
risks to waters used for the abstraction of
drinking water”
• WFD Annex X: Priority Substances (PS) list
• EQSD Annex I: EQS for PS in surface waters
• EQSD Article 3: Trends of PS in biota/sediment
• WFD: Requires Member States to identify River
Basin Specific Pollutants (RBSP) and set EQS 5

6. Chemical pollution: groundwaters
• Groundwater Directive (GWD) Annex I: quality
standards for nitrates and pesticides
• GWD Annex II requires Member States to identify
pollutants and indicators of pollution and to set
threshold values for them
• GWD requires identification and reversal of
upward trends in pollutant levels
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7. 7
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8. Member States’ activities
• Member States (MS) prepare a River Basin
Management Plan every six years
• Pressures and impacts analysis, including identification
of RBSPs
• Programme of measures – including implementation of
other relevant legislation
• MS carry out regular monitoring of surface and
groundwaters
• MS participate in the joint COM-MS Common
Implementation Strategy (CIS) for the WFD
• CIS Working Groups – Chemicals, Groundwater,
Floods etc 8

9. Some CIS activities
• Providing input to the Fitness Check of the WFD,
EQSD, GWD and Floods Directive
• Providing input to the Evaluation of the UWWTD
• Preparing guidance, e.g. on deriving EQS, on
biota monitoring, and on the potential use of
Effect-Based Methods to assess compliance
• Contributing to the review of the PS list and the
Surface Water Watch List
• Establishing a voluntary Groundwater Watch List
(pilots on pharma and PFAS)
• Developing guidance on sediment management
(including with reference to contaminants) 9

10. Updated
parameters
Risk-based
approach
Increased
transparency
Access to water
Highest quality standards
for materials in contact
Drinking Water
Directive recast
proposal

11. Risk-based approach
Catchment
area
(also WFD)
Treatment
Point of
complianceDrinking Water
Distribution
Consumer
O
L
D
N
E
W
Proposal covers complete
Water-supply chain
Abstraction Supply Distribution Consumer

12. Contaminants in foodstuffs/fishery products
• Marine Strategy Framework Directive
• Qualitative descriptor 8 – Concentrations of contaminants are
at levels not giving rise to pollution effects
• Qualitative descriptor 9 – Contaminants in fish and other
seafood for human consumption do not exceed levels
established by Community legislation or other relevant
standards
• Regulation (1881/2006 – amended most recently in
2018) on maximum levels for certain contaminants in
foodstuffs – including dioxins & PCBs, certain PAHs,
heavy metals
Biota standards remain a difficult issue!
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13. 13©HC

14. Water quantity and climate change
• Floods Directive – Natural Water Retention
Measures/Nature-based solutions
• Scarcity and droughts (COM Communication
2007, Policy review 2012; Blueprint to Safeguard
Europe’s Water Resources 2012)
• Commission proposal for a regulation on water
re-use; negotiations ongoing
• Possible further consideration in the follow-up to
the Fitness Check of the WFD
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15. Objectives of Strategic Approach to
pharmaceuticals in the environment
• Identify actions to be taken or further
investigated to address potential risks from
pharmaceutical residues in the environment
• Encourage innovation where it can help to
address the risks, and promote the circular
economy (recyclability of sewage, manure etc);
• Identify remaining knowledge gaps and
solutions for filling them;
• Ensure that actions to address the risk do not
jeopardise access to safe and effective
pharmaceutical treatments for humans/animals. 15

16. Strategic Approach to PIE cont’d
• Approach considers whole life cycle of pharma
• Several policy areas relevant, incl. env, health,
agri, trade
• Actions are identified in six areas
1. Increase awareness and promote prudent use
2. Support development of greener pharma and
manufacturing
3. Improve environmental risk assessment
4. Reduce wastage and improve waste management
5. Expand environmental monitoring
6. Fill other knowledge gaps
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17. Microplastics
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• Qualitative Descriptor 10 under the MSFD:
Properties and quantities of marine litter do not
cause harm to the coastal and marine
environment
• Ongoing work in the Joint Research Centre,
including on reference materials for standardised
monitoring
• Report from the COM Scientific Advice Mechanism
April 2019 (“Environmental and health risks of
microplastic pollution”)
• Possible consideration in the follow-up to the
Fitness Check of the WFD and evaluation of
UWWTD

18. 18
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