Our waters are at risk!

Author: Ildikó Varga | Date: June 19, 2024

The Belgian presidency is speeding up the negotiations to reach a Council agreement (the so-called General Approach) on the Commission’s proposal for updated priority pollutants of surface and groundwater of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The prepared compromised text amends core principles of the WFD and weakens the Commission’s proposal in several important aspects, which are:

·         Introduces two new exemptions 1) allowing short-term negative impacts on one or more elements of a water body or water bodies, and 2) allow deterioration in the status of a body of water because of relocating water or sediment without causing a net increase in pollution.

·         Delays compliance date for the new surface and groundwater pollutants to 2039, with the possibility to apply derogations for two subsequent RBMPs, i.e. until 2051.

·         Deletes a previous suggestion that interim Programs of Measures should be set up for the new substances by 2030, meaning that until 2033, there would only be monitoring obligations for the new substances.

·         Weakens some of the proposed quality standards to cap the effects of chemical mixtures, including by

• deletes the thresholds for ‘total pesticides’ in surface water and ‘total pharmaceuticals’ in groundwater,­
• makes the use of Effect-Based Methods to monitor the combined effect of estrogenic hormones a voluntary exercise,
• weaken groundwater protection by limiting the number of PFAS regulated in groundwater and weakening the threshold by aligning the provisions to the Drinking Water Directive.

Additionally, the draft text disregards recommendations from the European Parliament, including by not:

• Calls for a revision of the existing EU-wide groundwater thresholds for pesticides and nitrates that have not been revised since the Directive was set up in 2006.
• Supporting the introduction of an Extended Producer Responsibility to cover the cost of monitoring.

Let’s not forget that the WFD is the EU’s fundamental law for protecting coastal and freshwaters with the aim that Europe’s waters reach good ecological status or potential by 2027. Actually, Member States are far from reaching the target and more than half of surface waters are exempt. Water pollution causes biodiversity loss, water scarcity and creates a huge burden on the public budget.

The current lists of priority substances and groundwater pollutants need updating urgently since they are incomplete, out of date and do not ensure adequate protection of ecosystems and human health from water pollution. BUT the ongoing update of the EU water pollution standards should be kept to the chemical aspects and not touch basic principles of the WFD that has undergone a fitness check and was deemed fit for purpose.

We call on Ambassadors of the Member States of the EU (Coreper) to ensure that the amendments on priority substances and groundwater pollutant does not address issues outside its scope, does not undermine existing rules on water protection and therefore reject provisions that weaken the WFD basic principles!