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Water

2. Water quality

There are a number of objectives in respect of which the quality of water is protected. The key ones at the European level are general protection of the aquatic ecology, specifically protection of unique and valuable habitats, protection of drinking water resources, and protection of bathing water. All these objectives must be integrated for each river basin.

The objectives for special habitats, drinking water areas and bathing water apply only to specific bodies of water (those supporting special wetlands; those identified for drinking water abstraction; those generally used as bathing areas). In contrast, ecological protection should apply to all waters: the central requirement of the EU Treaty is that the environment be protected to a high level in its entirety.

Drinking water

The Drinking Water Directive introduced on 3 November, 1998, aims to protect the health of EU consumers and to make sure their drinking water is wholesome and clean (free of unacceptable taste, odour, colour) and that it has a pleasant appearance.

In addition, the Directive sets standards for the most common substances (so-called parameters) that can be found in drinking water - a total of 48 microbiological and chemical parameters that must be monitored and tested regularly.

In principle, WHO guidelines for drinking water are used as a basis for the standards in the Drinking Water Directive.

EU member states have to monitor the quality of the drinking water supplied to their citizens and of the water used in the food production industry. This has to be done mainly at the tap inside private and public premises. Member states report at three yearly intervals the monitoring results to the European Commission.

Bathing water

EU efforts for ensuring clean bathing waters commenced in the 1970s. The 1976 Bathing Water Directive aims to protect public health and the environment by keeping coastal and inland bathing waters free from pollution. The EU - as part of its Sixth Community Environment Action Programme 2002 - 2012 - revised and updated bathing water quality protection with the new 2006 Bathing Water Directive.

To ensure good bathing water quality, the EU has set limits for physical, chemical and microbiological parameters for waters that are authorised, or not prohibited, for swimming and that are traditionally visited by a large number of people. National authorities must ensure these limits are not exceeded. Authorities regularly take water samples for analysis throughout the bathing season.

The Commission publishes in May of each year an EU-wide report covering all 27 member states, both in a paper version and an Internet version. Reports on individual Member States are published on the Internet.

Chemicals in water

Community policy concerning dangerous or hazardous substances in European waters was introduced over three decades ago, in 1976, by Council Directive on pollution caused by discharges of certain dangerous substances. Several substances were subsequently regulated in the 1980s by defining Community-wide emission limit values and quality objectives in the surface and coastal waters.

The major part of Community strategy against pollution of surface waters control policy is now set out in Article 16 of the Water Framework Directive.

A new directive on water quality standards was approved in June, 2008, to protect surface water from pollution. It sets harmonised quality standards for a list of currently 33 priority chemical substances.

Groundwater

Approximately 75 percent of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their water supply.

The components of the Water Framework Directive dealing with groundwater cover a number of different steps for achieving good (quantitative and chemical) status by 2015. The presumption in relation to groundwater is, in principle, that it should not be polluted at all.

The Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC was developed in response to the requirements of Article 17 of the Water Framework Directive. It requires underground water quality standards to be established by the end of 2008 and measures to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants into groundwater to be operational so that WFD environmental objectives can be achieved by 2015. It further requires compliance with good chemical status criteria (based on EU standards of nitrates and pesticides and on threshold values established by member states).

Urban waste water

The Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste-water treatment was adopted on 21 May 1991. Its objective is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of urban waste water discharges and discharges from industrial sectors of the agro-food industry. It concerns the collection, treatment and discharge of:

• Domestic waste water
• Mixture of waste water
• Waste water from certain industrial sectors

The directive requires:

• The Collection and treatment of waste water in all agglomerations of >2000 population equivalents (p.e.)
• Secondary treatment of all discharges from agglomerations of > 2000 p.e., and more advanced treatment for agglomerations >10 000 population equivalents in designated sensitive areas and their catchments
• A requirement for pre-authorisation of all discharges of urban wastewater, of discharges from the food-processing industry and of industrial discharges into urban wastewater collection systems
• Monitoring of the performance of treatment plants and receiving waters
• Controls of sewage sludge disposal and re-use, and treated waste water re-use whenever it is appropriate

Nitrates Directive

The aim of the Nitrates Directive is to reduce and prevent water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. The directive obliges the member states to monitor the nitrate concentration and trophic status of bodies of water. Member states must also designate vulnerable zones that include polluted waters and carry out measures to reduce nitrate pollution in these zones. National codes of good agricultural practices must be drawn up for the farmers to adopt on a voluntary basis. The Water Framework Directive has incorporated several aspects of the Nitrates Directive in its provisions.