Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedSHORT JUSTIFICATION

AddedRecital 12: (12) The provisions of Directive 98/83/EC on quality assurance of treatment, equipment and materials did not succeed in addressing obstacles to the internal market when it comes to the free circulation of construction products in contact with water intended for human consumption or providing sufficient protection with regard to human health. National product approvals are still in place, with different requirements from one Member State to another. This renders it difficult and costly for manufacturers to market their products all over the Union. That situation stems from the fact that there are no minimum European hygiene standards for all products and materials in contact with water intended for human consumption, which is essential for fully ensuring mutual recognition between Member States. The removal of technical barriers and conformity of all products and materials in contact with water intended for human consumption at Union level can, therefore, only be effectively achieved by establishing minimum quality requirements at Union level. As a consequence, those provisions should be strengthened by means of a procedure for harmonisation of such products and materials. That work should draw on the experience gained and advances made by a number of Member States that have been working together for some years, in a concerted effort, to bring about regulatory convergence. / (deleted)

RemovedThe Council position at first reading reflects the agreement reached between the Parliament and the Council in interinstitutional negotiations at early second reading stage, after legal-linguistic verification. Since the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), at its vote of 18 February 2020, already confirmed the outcome of those interinstitutional negotiations, as your rapporteur I am proposing that ENVI recommend that the plenary confirm the position of the Council at first reading, without amending it.

AddedRecital 13: (13) Each Member State should ensure that monitoring programmes are established to check that water intended for human consumption meets the requirements of this Directive. Most of the monitoring carried out for the purposes of this Directive is performed by water suppliers but, where necessary, Member States should clarify with which competent authorities the obligations stemming from the transposition of this Directive lie. A certain flexibility should be granted to water suppliers as regards the parameters they monitor for the purposes of the supply risk assessment. If a parameter is not detected, water suppliers should be able to decrease the monitoring frequency or stop monitoring that parameter altogether. The supply risk assessment should be applied to most parameters. However, a core list of parameters should always be monitored with a certain minimum frequency. This Directive mainly sets provisions on monitoring frequency for the purposes of compliance checks and only limited provisions on monitoring for operational purposes. Additional monitoring for operational purposes may be necessary to ensure the correct functioning of water treatment, at the discretion of water suppliers. In that regard, the water suppliers may refer to the WHO's Guidelines and Water Safety Plan Manual.

AddedRecital 14: (14) The risk-based approach should be applied by all water suppliers, including very small, small and medium-sized water suppliers, as the evaluation of Directive 98/83/EC showed deficiencies in its implementation by those suppliers, which were sometimes due to the cost of performing unnecessary monitoring operations, while allowing for the possibility for derogations for very small suppliers. When applying the risk-based approach, security concerns and concerns relating to the ‘polluter pays’ principle should be taken into account. For smaller suppliers, the competent authority should support the monitoring operations by providing expert support.

AddedRecital 14 a (new): (14a) In order to deliver the strongest protection for public health, Member States should ensure a clear and balanced distribution of responsibilities for the application of the risk-based approach in line with their national institutional and legal framework.

AddedRecital 15: (15) In the event of non-compliance with the standards imposed by this Directive the Member State concerned should immediately investigate the cause and ensure that the necessary remedial action is taken as soon as possible to restore the quality of the water. In cases where the water supply constitutes a potential danger to human health, the supply of such water should be prohibited or its use restricted, and citizens who could be affected should be duly informed. In addition, in the event of failure to meet the minimum requirements for values relating to microbiological and chemical parameters, Member States should determine whether exceeding the values constitutes a potential risk to human health. To that end, Member States should take account of, in particular, the extent to which minimum requirements have not been met and the type of parameter concerned. In cases where remedial action is necessary to restore the quality of water intended for human consumption, in accordance with Article 191(2) of the Treaty, priority should be given to action which rectifies the problem at source.

AddedRecital 15 a (new): (15a) It is important to prevent contaminated water causing a potential danger to human health. Therefore, the supply of such water should be prohibited or its use restricted.

AddedRecital 16: (16) Member States should be authorised to grant derogations from this Directive. Derogations were initially used to allow Member States up to nine years to resolve a non-compliance with a parametric value. This procedure has proved to be useful for Member States, given the level of ambition of the Directive. It should be noted, however, that, in some cases, it has led to delays in remedial actions being taken, as the possibility for derogation was sometimes considered to be a transitional period. In the light of the fact, firstly, that the quality parameters in this Directive are to be strengthened and, secondly, that emerging pollutants are being increasingly detected, requiring stepped-up evaluation, monitoring and management actions, it remains, nonetheless, necessary to maintain a derogation procedure that is in keeping with those circumstances, provided that they do not constitute a potential risk to human health and provided that the supply of water intended for human consumption in the area concerned cannot otherwise be maintained by any other reasonable means. The provision in Directive 98/83/EC on derogations should therefore be amended so as to ensure faster and more effective compliance by Member States with the requirements of this Directive. Derogations granted by Member States pursuant to Article 9 of Directive 98/83/EC and still applicable at the date of entry into force of this Directive should continue to apply in accordance with the arrangements laid down b…

AddedRecital 17: (17) The Commission, in its reply to the European citizens’ initiative ‘Right2Water’ in 201483, invited Member States to ensure access to a minimum water supply for all citizens, in accordance with the WHO recommendations. It also committed to continue to "improve access to safe drinking water […] for the whole population through environmental policies"84. This is in line with Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This is also in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 and the associated target to "achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all". The concept of equitable access covers a wide array of aspects such as availability (due for instance to geographic reasons, lack of infrastructure or the specific situation of certain parts of the populations), quality, acceptability, or financial affordability. Concerning affordability of water, it is important to recall that, without prejudice to Article 9(4) of Directive 2000/60/EC, when setting water tariffs in accordance with the principle of recovery of costs set out in that Directive, Member States may have regard to the variation in the economic and social conditions of the population and may therefore adopt social tariffs or take measures safeguarding populations at a socio-economic disadvantage. This Directive deals, in particular, with the aspects of access to water which are related to quality and availability. To address those aspects, as p…

AddedRecital 18: (18) The European Parliament, in its Resolution on the "follow-up to the European citizens’ initiative Right2Water"86, "requested that Member States should pay special attention to the needs of vulnerable groups in society"87. The specific situation of minority cultures, such as Roma and Travellers, whether sedentary or not – in particular their lack of access to drinking water – was also acknowledged in the Commission Report on the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies88 and the Council Recommendation on effective Roma integration measures in the Member States89. In light of that general context, it is appropriate that Member States pay particular attention to vulnerable and marginalised groups by taking the necessary measures to ensure that those groups have access to water. Taking into account the principle of recovery of costs set out in Directive 2000/60/EC, Member States should improve access to water for vulnerable and marginalised groups without jeopardising the supply of universally affordable high-quality water. Without prejudice to the right of the Member States to define those groups, they should at least include refugees, nomadic communities, homeless people and minority cultures such as Roma and Travellers, whether sedentary or not. Such measures to ensure access, left to the appreciation of the Member States, might for example include providing alternative supply systems (individual treatment devices), providing water via t…

AddedRecital 19: (19) The 7th Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’90, requires that the public have access to clear environmental information at national level. Directive 98/83/EC only provided for passive access to information, meaning that Member States merely had to ensure that information was available. Those provisions should therefore be replaced to ensure that up-to-date information that is comprehensible and relevant to consumers and easily accessible, for instance in a booklet, a website or a smart application. The up-to-date information should not only include results from the monitoring programmes, but also additional information that the public may find useful, such as the outcome of actions taken to monitor water suppliers as regards water quality parameters and information on indicator parameters listed in Part Ba of Annex I. For very large water suppliers, additional information on, inter alia, management, tariff structure and treatment applied, should also be available on-line. The purpose of better consumer knowledge of relevant information and improved transparency should be to increase citizens' confidence in the water supplied to them, as well as in water services, and should lead to an increased use of tap water as drinking water, which could contribute to reduced plastic usage and litter and greenhouse gas emissions, and a positive impact on climate change mitigation and the environment as a whole.

AddedRecital 20: (20) For the same reasons, and in order to make consumers more aware of the implications of water consumption, they should also receive information in an easily accessible manner, for instance on their invoice or by smart application on the volume consumed per year, changes in consumption, a comparison with average household consumption, where such information is available to the water supplier, the structure of the tariff charged by the water supplier, including the distribution of variable and fixed parts of it, as well as on the price per litre of water intended for human consumption, thereby allowing a comparison with the price of bottled water.

AddedRecital 21: (21) The fundamental principles to be considered in the setting of water tariffs, without prejudice to Article 9(4) of Directive 2000/60/EC, namely recovery of costs for water services and polluter pays, are set out in that Directive. However, the financial sustainability of the provision of water services is not always ensured, sometimes leading to under-investment in the maintenance of water infrastructure. With the improvement of monitoring techniques, leakage levels – mainly due to such under-investment – have become increasingly apparent and reduction of water losses should be encouraged at Union level to improve the efficiency of water infrastructure. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, in order to raise awareness of this issue, the information related to it should be shared in a more transparent way with consumers.

AddedRecital 25: (25) Pursuant to paragraph 22 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, the Commission should carry out an evaluation of this Directive within a certain period of time from the date set for its transposition. That evaluation should be based on experience gathered and data collected during the implementation of the Directive, on any available WHO recommendations, and on relevant scientific, analytical and epidemiological data.

AddedRecital 28: (28) In order to adapt this Directive to scientific and technical progress or to specify monitoring requirements for the purposes of the hazard and domestic distribution risk assessments, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission to amend Annexes I to IV to this Directive, and take measures necessary under the changes set out under Article 10a. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. In addition, the empowerment laid down in Annex I, part C, Note 10, of Directive 98/83/EC, to set monitoring frequencies and monitoring methods for radioactive substances has become obsolete due to the adoption of Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom96 and should therefore be deleted. The empowerment laid down in the second subparagraph of part A of Annex III to Directive 98/83/EC concerning amendments of the Directive is no longer necessary and should be delet…

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1: 1. This Directive concerns the quality of water intended for human consumption for all in the Union.

AddedAmendments 163, 189, 207 and 215

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 2

AddedAmendment: 2. The objective of this Directive shall be to protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water intended for human consumption by ensuring that it is wholesome and clean, and to provide universal access to water intended for human consumption.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1: 1. ‘water intended for human consumption’ shall mean all water either in its original state or after treatment, intended for drinking, cooking, food preparation or production, or for other food purposes, or other domestic purposes in both public and private premises, including food businesses, regardless of its origin and whether it is supplied from a distribution network, supplied from a tanker or put in bottles or containers.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2: (Does not affect the English version.)

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3: 3. 'water supplier' shall mean a legal entity supplying at least 10 m3 of water intended for human consumption a day as an average.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new): 3a. 'very small water supplier' shall mean a water supplier supplying less than 50 m3 per day or serving less than 250 people.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4: 4. 'small water supplier' shall mean a water supplier supplying less than 500 m3 per day or serving less than 2 500 people.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new): 4a. 'medium water supplier' shall mean a water supplier supplying at least 500 m3 per day or serving at least 2 500 people.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5: 5. 'large water supplier' shall mean a water supplier supplying at least 5 000 m3 per day or serving at least 25 000 people.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6: 6. 'very large water supplier' shall mean a water supplier supplying at least 20 000 m3 per day or serving at least 100 000 people.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7: 7. 'priority premises' shall mean large non-household premises with many people, in particular vulnerable people, potentially exposed to water-related risks, such as hospitals, healthcare institutions, retirement homes, schools, universities and other education facilities, crèches and nurseries, sport, recreation, leisure and exhibition facilities, buildings with a lodging facility, penal institutions and campgrounds, as identified by Member States.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8 a (new): 8a. ‘food business’ shall mean a food business as defined in point (2) of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. For water used in food businesses for the manufacture, processing, preservation or marketing of products or substances intended for human consumption, only Articles 4, 5, 6 and 11 of this Directive shall apply. However, none of the articles of this Directive shall apply where an operator of a food business can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent national authorities that the quality of the water it uses does not affect the hygiene of the products or substances resulting from its activities and that such products or substances comply with Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. / 1a Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (OJ L 139, 30.4.2004, p. 1).

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 b (new): 1b. A producer of water intended for human consumption that is put into bottles or containers shall not be considered a water supplier. / Provisions of this Directive shall apply to water intended for human consumption put into bottles or containers insofar as they are not covered by obligations under other Union legislation.

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 c (new): 1c. Maritime vessels that desalinate water, carry passengers and act as water suppliers shall only be subject to Articles 1 to 7 and 9 to 12 of this Directive and its Annexes.

AddedArticle 4 – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) Member States have taken all other measures necessary to comply with the requirements set out: / (i) in Articles 4 to 12 of this Directive for water intended for human consumption supplied to the final consumers from a distribution network or from a tanker; / (ii) in Articles 4, 5 and 6 and Article 11(4) of this Directive for water intended for human consumption put into bottles or containers in a food business; / (iii) in Articles 4, 5, 6 and 11 of this Directive for water intended for human consumption produced and used in a food business for the production, processing and distribution of food.

AddedArticle 4 – paragraph 2: 2. Member States shall ensure that the measures taken to implement this Directive adhere fully to the precautionary principle and in no circumstances have the effect of allowing, directly or indirectly, any deterioration of the present quality of water intended for human consumption or any increase in the pollution of waters used for the production of water intended for human consumption .

AddedArticle 4 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. Member States shall take measures to ensure that competent authorities carry out an assessment of the water leakage levels on their territory and of the potential for improvements in water leakage reduction in the drinking water sector. That assessment shall take into account relevant public health, environmental, technical and economic aspects. Member States shall adopt, by 31 December 2022, national targets to reduce the leakage levels of water suppliers in their territory by 31 December 2030. Member States may provide meaningful incentives to ensure that water suppliers in their territory meet the national targets.

AddedArticle 4 – paragraph 2 b (new): 2b. If a competent authority in charge of the production and distribution of water intended for human consumption hands over the management of all or part of the water production or supply activities to a water supplier, the contract between the competent authority and the water supplier shall specify each party’s responsibilities under this Directive.

AddedArticle 5 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall set values applicable to water intended for human consumption for the parameters set out in Annex I.

AddedArticle 5 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. The values set pursuant to paragraph 1 shall not be less stringent than those set out in Parts A, B and Ba of Annex I. As regards the parameters set out in Part Ba of Annex I, the values shall be set only for monitoring purposes and for the sake of ensuring that the requirements set out in Article 12 are met.

AddedArticle 5 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 a (new): The Member States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the treatment agents, the materials, and the disinfection procedures used for disinfection purposes in water supply systems do not adversely affect the quality of water intended for human consumption. Any contamination of water intended for human consumption from the use of such agents, materials and procedures shall be minimised without, however, compromising the effectiveness of the disinfection.

AddedArticle 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: The parametric values set in accordance with Article 5 for the parameters listed in Annex I, parts A, B and C, shall be complied with:

AddedArticle 6 – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) in the case of water intended for human consumption put into bottles or containers, at the point at which the water is put into the bottles or containers;

AddedArticle 6 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new): (ca) in the case of water used in a food business where water is supplied by a water supplier, at the point of delivery in the food business.

AddedArticle 6 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. In the case of water covered by point (a) of paragraph 1, Member States shall be deemed to have fulfilled their obligations under this Article, where it can be established that non-compliance with the parameters provided for in Article 5 is caused by a private distribution system or the maintenance thereof, except as regards priority premises.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) a hazard assessment of bodies of water or parts of bodies of water used for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption, carried out by Member States in accordance with Article 8;

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) a supply risk assessment carried out by the water suppliers in each water supply system for the purposes of safeguarding and monitoring the quality of the water they supply, in accordance with Article 9 and Annex II, part C;

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. Member States may adapt the implementation of the risk-based approach, without compromising the objective of this Directive concerning the quality of water intended for human consumption and the health of consumers, when there are particular constraints due to geographical circumstances such as remoteness or accessibility of water supply zone.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 b (new): 1b. Member States shall ensure a clear and appropriate distribution of responsibilities between stakeholders, as defined by the Member States, for the application of the risk-based approach with regard to the bodies of water used for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption and domestic distribution systems. Such distribution of responsibilities shall be tailored to their institutional and legal framework.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 2: 2. Hazard assessments shall be carried out by [3 years after the end-date for transposition of this Directive]. They shall be reviewed every 3 years, taking account of the requirement, provided for in Article 7 of Directive 2000/60/EC, for Member States to identify bodies of water, and updated where necessary.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 3: 3. Supply risk assessments shall be carried out by water suppliers by [6 years after the end-date for transposition of this Directive]. They shall be reviewed at regular intervals of no longer than 6 years, and updated where necessary.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. Pursuant to Articles 8 and 9 of this Directive, Member States shall take the necessary corrective measures under the programmes of measures and river basin management plans provided for in Articles 11 and 13 of Directive 2000/60/EC respectively.

AddedArticle 7 – paragraph 4: 4. Domestic distribution risk assessments in the premises referred to in Article 10(1) shall be carried out by [3 years after the end-date for transposition of this Directive]. They shall be reviewed every 3 years, and updated where necessary.

AddedArticle 8 – title: Hazard assessment, monitoring and management of bodies of water used for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. Without prejudice to Directive 2000/60/EC, in particular Articles 4 to 8, Member States shall, in cooperation with their competent water authorities, ensure that a hazard assessment is performed covering the bodies of water used for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption that provide more than 10 m3 a day as an average. The hazard assessment shall include the following elements:

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) identification of and geo-references for all abstraction points in the bodies or parts of bodies of water covered by the hazard assessment. Given that the data referred to in this point are potentially sensitive, in particular in the context of public health protection, the Member States shall ensure that such data are protected and communicated only to the relevant authorities;

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) mapping of the safeguard zones, where those zones have been established in accordance with Article 7(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC;

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) identification of hazards and possible pollution sources affecting the bodies of water covered by the hazard assessment. Such research and identification of pollution sources shall be regularly updated to detect new substances that affect micro-plastics, notably PFAS. To that end, Member States may use the review of the impact of human activity undertaken in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2000/60/EC and information on significant pressures collected in accordance with point 1.4 of Annex II to that Directive;

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point d – introductory part: (d) regular monitoring in the bodies or parts of bodies of water covered by the hazard assessment of pollutants that are relevant for the water supply and that are selected from the following lists:

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point d – point iv: (iv) parameters for monitoring purposes only in Part Ca of Annex I, or other relevant pollutants, such as microplastics, provided that a methodology to measure microplastics as specified in Article 11(5b) is in place, or river basin specific pollutants established by Member States on the basis of the review of the impact of human activity undertaken in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2000/60/EC and information on significant pressures collected in accordance with point 1.4 of Annex II to that Directive.

AddedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new): Very small water suppliers may be exempted from the requirements referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of this paragraph, provided that the competent authority has prior and up to date documented knowledge of the relevant parameters referred to in those points. This exemption shall be reviewed by the competent authority at least every three years and updated where necessary.