European Parliament votes on Drinking Water Directive

The European Parliament voted last week on the European Commission’s latest proposals on the Drinking Water Directive. According the Eureau, which represents public and private drinking and wastewater service providers from 29 countries, the Parliament “increased the legal clarity of the Commission’s proposal”.

The directive will contain:

• a new provision to ensure that materials in contact with drinking water are safe and protect public health;

• a clearer definition of responsibilities between the various stakeholders involved in the implementation of the risk-based approach;

• the re-introduction of derogations and indicator parameters;

• an improved definition of information available to the public; and

• what Eureau called a “reasonable” monitoring frequency for the quality parameters.

However, Eureau noted that the Parliament’s MEPs decided to follow “only partially the scientifically sound WHO recommendations on the quality parameters”.

Carla Chiaretti, head of policy at EurEau, said: “We are confident that the negotiations in the Council will result in additional positive elements to keep our tap water safe all over Europe.”