Safeguarding water quality: Council signs off on stricter protection rules for surface water and groundwater 10:00 The Council formally adopted the directive to expand and[...]

The Council has formally adopted the directive on updating the list of pollutants affecting surface water and groundwater, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and PFAS. The revised rules also tighten environmental standards for several substances and strengthen monitoring across the EU.

The directive amends the water framework directive, the groundwater directive and the directive on environmental quality standards, aligning EU water policy with the latest scientific evidence.

To improve water quality, the EU has already put in place rules for monitoring and reducing the release of identified dangerous substances and pollutants in surface water and groundwater. The EU-wide list of these substances has now been expanded and updated, including pharmaceuticals (such as painkillers), pesticides, bisphenols, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, a group of so-called 'forever chemicals'). For the first time, the directive introduces rules to assess the cumulative risk of combined substances.

Several pollutants that are already on the list will now be subject to tighter environmental quality standards. To support future reviews, the directive also adds microplastics and antimicrobial resistance indicators to the EU's water watchlists, which help track substances of emerging concern.

The updated directive strengthens monitoring and reporting obligations for EU countries, in order to improve water quality and transparency across the EU. One of the measures to achieve this objective is the introduction of effect-based monitoring of surface water, to assess the impact of chemical mixtures. Furthermore, EU countries may use remote sensing and earth observation technologies for their monitoring. They must report on biological quality, chemical quality and also the overall status of water bodies for more reliable data across the EU.

Next steps

This step concludes the adoption procedure in the Council. The European Parliament is expected to hold the final vote on the directive by the end of March. EU countries will have until 2039 to comply with the new standards for both surface water and groundwater. For substances with revised and more stringent environmental quality standards in surface water, the compliance deadline is 2033.

Background

Chemical pollution of surface and groundwater poses risks to human health and to the aquatic environment, including acute and chronic toxicity in aquatic organisms.

According to data from the river basin management plans, a key tool of the water framework directive, 46% of surface waters and 24% of groundwater in the EU fail to meet the existing environmental quality standards, with significant differences between member states. The directive addresses these challenges, by improving protection against emerging pollutants and chemical mixtures.

• Directive on priority substances in the field of water policy
• Statement of the Council's reasons
• Voting results
• Statements
• The ordinary legislative procedure (background information)
• Pollution (background information)

Water