European Parliament adopts Drinking Water Directive

The report regarding the revision of the Drinking Water Directive and prepared by MEP Michel Dantin was adopted by the European Parliament on Tuesday 23 October. It was adopted with 300 votes to 98 and 274 abstentions. The European Parliament will enter into negotiations with European Council once the ministers of the Member States have set their own position on the file.

During a previous debate of the Environment-committee (ENVI) on the 10th of September monitoring leakage rates and energy performance monitoring were discussed. Including obliged energy performance monitoring was rejected by the committee but including monitoring leakage rates was adopted. The report of the ENVI-committee contains nearly 900 amendments to the proposal of the European Commission.

New Drinking Water Directive
The revised Drinking Water Directive is not only focusing on improving the quality of the infrastructure. It also wants to guarantee access to clean and safe drinking water for everyone. The European Commission also proposes to add norms for new and emerging substances. Legislation for substances like legionella, chlorate and PFOA and PFOS have to improve the quality of drinking water in Europe.

Threat to smaller suppliers
EU-commissioner Frans Timmermans presented the proposal of the revised Drinking Water Directive (DWD) on the 1st of February in Brussels. After the presentation stakeholders were allowed to react on the proposal. In total 457 people shared their comments online. Small water supply companies were concerned that new, strict regulations will be a threat for them. They think that extra monitoring, improving drinking water infrastructure and online transparency are not feasible for smaller suppliers.