EC on quality standards in water policy - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2022)540 - Amendment of Directive 2000/60/EC on water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on pollution of groundwater and Directive ...
document	COM(2022)540
date	October 26, 2022

(1) Chemical pollution of surface and groundwater poses a threat to the aquatic environment, with effects such as acute and chronic toxicity in aquatic organisms, accumulation of pollutants in the ecosystem and loss of habitats and biodiversity, as well as to human health. Setting environmental quality standards helps to implement the zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment.

(2) Pursuant to Article 191(2), second sentence, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Union policy on the environment is to be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action is to be taken, that environmental damage is, as a priority, to be rectified at source and that the polluter is to pay.

(3) The European Green Deal ³⁵ is the Union’s strategy to ensure, by 2050, a climate-neutral, clean and circular economy, optimising resource management while minimising pollution. The EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability ³⁶ and the Zero Pollution Action Plan ³⁷ specifically address pollution aspects of the European Green Deal. Other particularly relevant and complementary policies include the 2018 EU Plastics Strategy ³⁸ , the 2021 Pharmaceuticals Strategy for Europe ³⁹ , the Biodiversity Strategy ⁴⁰ , the Farm to Fork Strategy ⁴¹ , the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 ⁴² , the EU’s Digital Strategy ⁴³ and the EU’s Data Strategy ⁴⁴ .

(4) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁵ establishes a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. That framework involves the identification of priority substances amongst those that pose a significant risk to, or via, the aquatic environment at Union level. Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁶ lays down Union-wide environmental quality standards (EQS) for the 45 priority substances listed in Annex X to Directive 2000/60/EC and eight other pollutants that were already regulated at Union level before Annex X was introduced by Decision No 2455/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁷ . Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁸ lays down Union-wide groundwater quality standards for nitrates and for active substances in pesticides and criteria for establishing national threshold values for other groundwater pollutants. It also sets out a minimum list of 12 pollutants and their indicators for which Member States are required to consider establishing such national threshold values. The groundwater quality standards are set out in Annex I to Directive 2006/118/EC.

(5) Substances are considered for listing in Annex X to Directive 2000/60/EC or in Annex I or Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC based on an assessment of the risk they pose to humans and the aquatic environment. The key components of that assessment are knowledge of the environmental concentrations of the substances, including information collected from watch-list monitoring, and of the (eco)toxicology of the substances, as well as of their persistence, bioaccumulation, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reprotoxicity and endocrine disrupting potential.

(6) The Commission has conducted a review of the list of priority substances in Annex X to Directive 2000/60/EC in accordance with Article 16(4) of that Directive and with Article 8 of Directive 2008/105/EC, and a review of the lists of substances in Annexes I and II to Directive 2006/118/EC in accordance with Article 10 of that Directive and has concluded, in the light of new scientific knowledge, that it is appropriate to amend those lists by adding new substances, setting EQS or groundwater quality standards for those newly added substances, revising the EQS for some existing substances in line with scientific progress and setting biota EQS for some existing and newly added substances. It has also identified which additional substances are likely to accumulate in sediment or biota, and clarified that trend monitoring of such substances should be conducted in sediment or biota. The reviews of the lists of substances have been supported by an extensive consultation with experts from the Commission services, Member States, stakeholder groups and the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks.

(7) A combination of source-control and end-of-pipe measures is required to effectively deal with most pollutants across their life cycle, including, as relevant, chemical design, authorisation or approval, control of emissions during manufacturing and use or other processes, and waste handling. The setting of new or stricter quality standards in water bodies therefore complements and is coherent with other Union legislation that addresses or could address the pollution problem at one or more of those stages, including Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁹ , Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁰ , Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵¹ , Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵² , Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵³ , Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁴ , Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁵ and Council Directive 91/271/EEC ⁵⁶ .

(8) The new scientific knowledge points to a significant risk from several other pollutants found in water bodies, in addition to those already regulated. In groundwater, a particular problem has been identified through voluntary monitoring for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceuticals. PFAS have been detected at more than 70% of the groundwater measuring points in the Union and existing national thresholds are clearly exceeded at a considerable number of locations, and pharmaceutical substances are also widely found. In surface waters, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives are already listed as priority substances, but other PFAS are now also recognised to pose a risk. Watch-list monitoring under Article 8b of Directive 2008/105/EC has confirmed a risk in surface waters from a number of pharmaceutical substances which should therefore be added to the priority substances list.

(9) Directive 2000/60/EC requires Member States to identify water bodies used for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption, to monitor them, and to take the necessary measures to avoid deterioration in their quality and to reduce the level of purification treatment required in the production of water that is fit for human consumption. In this context, micro-plastics have been identified as a potential risk to human health, but more monitoring data are required to confirm the need for setting an environmental quality standard for micro-plastics in surface and groundwaters. Micro-plastics should therefore be included in the surface and groundwater watch lists and should be monitored as soon as the Commission has identified suitable monitoring methods. In this context , account should be taken of the methodologies for monitoring and assessing the risks from micro-plastics in drinking water, developed under Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁷ .

(10) Concern has been expressed about the risk of antimicrobial resistance developing from the presence of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance genes in the aquatic environment, but little monitoring has taken place. Relevant antimicrobial resistance genes should also be included in the surface and ground water watch lists and monitored as soon as suitable monitoring methods have been developed. This is in line with the 'European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance’, adopted by the Commission in June 2017, and with the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, which also addresses this concern.

(11) Considering the growing awareness of the relevance of mixtures and therefore of effect-based monitoring for determining chemical status, and considering that sufficiently robust effect-based monitoring methods already exist for estrogenic substances, Member States should apply such methods to assess the cumulative effects of estrogenic substances in surface waters over a period of at least two years. This will allow the comparison of effect-based results with the results obtained using the conventional methods for monitoring the three estrogenic substances listed in Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC. That comparison will be used to assess whether effect-based monitoring methods may be used as reliable screening methods. Using such screening methods would have the advantage of allowing the effects of all estrogenic substances having similar effects to be covered, and not only those listed in Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC. The definition of EQS in Directive 2000/60/EC should be modified to ensure that it may, in the future, also cover trigger values that might be set for assessing the results of effect-based monitoring.

(12) The evaluation of Union water legislation ⁵⁸ (the ‘evaluation’) concluded that the process for identifying and listing pollutants affecting surface and groundwater and setting or revising quality standards for them in the light of new scientific knowledge could be accelerated. If those tasks were to be carried out by the Commission, rather than in the framework of the ordinary legislative procedure as currently provided for in Articles 16 and 17 of Directive 2000/60/EC and Article 10 of Directive 2006/118/EC, the functioning of the surface and groundwater watch-list mechanisms, in particular in terms of timing and sequence of listing, monitoring and assessing results, could be improved, the links between the watch-list mechanism and the reviews of the lists of pollutants could be strengthened, and changes to the lists of pollutants could take account of scientific progress more swiftly. Therefore, and given the need to amend the lists of pollutants and their EQS promptly in the light of new scientific and technical knowledge, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC with regard to the list of priority substances and corresponding EQS set out in Part A of that Annex and to amend Annex I to Directive 2006/118/EC with regard to the list of groundwater pollutants and quality standards set out in that Annex. In this context, the Commisison should take account of the results of the monitoring of substances on the surface and groundwater watch lists. As a consequence, Articles 16 and 17 of Directive 2000/60/EC and Annex X to that Directive, as well as Article 10 of Directive 2006/118/EC, should be deleted.

(13) The evaluation also concluded that there is too much variation between Member States as regards the quality standards and threshold values set at national level for river basin specific pollutants and groundwater pollutants respectively. Until now, river basin specific pollutants not identified as priority substances under Directive 2000/60/EC have been subject to national EQS and been counted as physico-chemical quality elements supporting the assessment of ecological status in surface waters. In groundwaters, it has also been possible for Member States to set their own threshold values, even for man-made synthetic substances. This flexibility has led to sub-optimal results in terms of comparability of the status of water bodies between Member States, and in terms of environmental protection. Therefore, it is necessary to provide for a procedure that allows for an agreement at Union level on EQS and threshold values that are to be applied for those substances if they are identified as being of national concern and to establish repositories of the applicable EQS and threshold values.

(14) Furthermore, integrating river basin specific pollutants into the definition of chemical status in surface waters ensures a more coordinated, coherent and transparent approach in terms of monitoring and assessment of chemical status of surface water bodies and of related information to the public. It also facilitates a more targeted approach to identifying and implementing measures to address all ‘chemical related’ issues in a more holistic, effective and efficient way. Therefore, the definitions of ‘ecological status’ and ‘chemical status’ should be modified and the scope of ‘chemical status’ should be widened to cover also the river basin specific pollutants, hitherto part of the definition of ‘ecological status’ in Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC. As a result, the concept of EQS for river basin specific pollutants and related procedures should be included in Directive 2008/105/EC.

(15) In order to ensure a harmonised approach and level playing field in the Union, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend Part B of Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC by adapting the list of pollutants for which Member States have to consider establishing national threshold values.

(16) Given the need to swiftly adapt to scientific and technical knowledge and to ensure a harmonised approach and level playing field in the Union in respect of river basin specific pollutants, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to adapt Annex II to Directive 2008/105/EC with regard to the list of categories of pollutants set out in Part A of that Annex and to adapt Part C of Annex II with regard to the harmonised EQS for river basin specific pollutants or groups thereof. Those harmonised EQS should be applied by Member States in assessing the status of their surface water bodies when a risk has been identified from those pollutants.

(17) The review of the list of priority substances in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC has concluded that several priority substances are no longer of Union wide concern and should therefore no longer be included in Part A of Annex I to that Directive. Those substances should therefore be considered as river basin specific pollutants and included in Part C of Annex II to Directive 2008/105/EC together with their corresponding EQS. Considering that those pollutants are no longer considered to be of Union wide concern, the EQS need only be applied where those pollutants could still be of national or regional or local concern.

(18) In order to ensure a level playing field and allow comparability of water body status between Member States, there is a need to harmonise national threshold values for some groundwater pollutants. Therefore, a repository of harmonised threshold values for groundwater pollutants of national, regional or local concern should be introduced as a new Part D in Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC. The harmonised thresholds set out in that repository need to be applied only in those Member States where the pollutants subject to those thresholds affect groundwater status. For the sum of the two synthetic pollutants trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, there is a need to harmonise the national threshold values since not all Member States where the pollutants are relevant apply a threshold value for the sum of these pollutants and the national threshold values set are not all the same. The harmonised threshold value should be consistent with the parametric value set for the sum of those pollutants in drinking water under Directive (EU) 2020/2184.

(19) In order to ensure a harmonised approach and level playing field in the Union, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend Part D of Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC in order to adapt the repository of harmonised threshold values as regards the pollutants included and the harmonised threshold values to technical and scientific progress.

(20) All provisions of Directive 2006/118/EC relating to the assessment of groundwater chemical status should be adapted to the introduction of the third category of harmonised threshold values in Part D of Annex II to that Directive, in addition to the quality standards set out in Annex I to that Directive and the national threshold values set out in accordance with the methodology set out in Part A of Annex II to that Directive.

(21) To ensure effective and coherent decision-making and develop synergies with the work carried out in the framework of other Union legislation on chemicals, the European Chemicals Agency (‘ECHA’), should be given a permanent and clearly circumscribed role in the prioritisation of substances to be included in the watch lists and in the lists of substances in Annexes I and II to Directive 2008/105/EC and Annexes I and II to Directive 2006/118/EC, and in the derivation of appropriate science-based quality standards. The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) of ECHA, should facilitate the carrying out of certain tasks conferred on ECHA by providing opinions. ECHA should also ensure better coordination between various pieces of environmental law through increased transparency as regards pollutants on a watch list or the development of Union wide or national EQS or thresholds, by making relevant scientific reports publicly available.

(22) The evaluation concluded that more frequent and streamlined electronic reporting is necessary to foster better implementation and enforcement of the Union water legislation. In view of its role also to more regularly monitor the state of pollution as described in the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the European Environment Agency (EEA) should facilitate such more frequent and streamlined reporting by the Member States. It is important that environmental information on the status of Union surface water and groundwater is made available to the public and to the Commission in a timely manner. Member States should therefore be required to make available to the Commission and the EEA the monitoring data collected in the framework of Directive 2000/60/EC, making use of automated reporting and data delivery mechanisms by using Application Programming Interface or equivalent mechanisms. The administrative burden is expected to be limited insofar as Member States are already required to make publicly available spatial data themes within the scope of Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁹ as well as under Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶⁰ . Those spatial data themes include the location and operation of environmental monitoring facilities, related measurements of emissions and the state of environmental media.

(23) Better integration of data flows reported to the EEA under the Union water legislation and, in particular, of the inventories of emissions required by Directive 2008/105/EC, with the data flows reported to the Industrial Emissions Portal under Directive 2010/75/EU and Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶¹ , will make the inventory reporting in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2008/105/EC simpler and more efficient. At the same time, it will reduce administrative burden and peak work load in the preparations of the river basin management plans. In combination with the abolition of interim reporting on the progress of programmes of measures, which did not prove effective, this simplified reporting will allow Member States to put more effort into reporting emissions that are not covered by the legislation on industrial emissions but which are covered by the emissions reporting under Article 5 of Directive 2008/105/EC.

(24) The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a distinction between powers delegated to the Commission to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act (delegated acts), and the powers conferred upon the Commission to adopt acts to ensure uniform conditions for implementing legally binding Union acts (implementing acts). Directives 2000/60/EC and 2006/118/EC should be aligned to the legal framework introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.

(25) The empowerments in Article 20(1), first subparagraph, of Directive 2000/60/EC and in point 1.4.1(ix) of Annex V to that Directive which provide for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny fulfil the criteria in Article 290(1) TFEU, since they concern adaptations of the Annexes to that Directive and adoption of rules supplementing it. They should therefore be converted to empowerments for the Commission to adopt delegated acts.

(26) The empowerment in Article 8 of Directive 2006/118/EC which provides for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny fulfils the criteria in Article 290(1) TFEU, since it concerns adaptations of the Annexes to that Directive. It should therefore be converted to an empowerment for the Commission to adopt delegated acts.

(27) It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during the preparation of delegated acts, its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. 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 the Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(28) The empowerment in Article 8(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC which provides for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny fulfils the criteria in Article 290(2) TFEU, since it concerns the adoption of technical specifications and standardised methods for analysis and monitoring of water status and therefore aims at ensuringuniform conditions for the harmonised implementation of that Directive. It should therefore be converted to an empowerment for the Commission to adopt implementing acts. In order to ensure comparability of data, the empowerment should also be extended to include the establishment of formats for reporting monitoring and status data in accordance with Article 8(4). The powers conferred on the Commission should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶² .

(29) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adopt technical formats for reporting monitoring and water status data in accordance with Article 8(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

(30) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Directive 2008/105/EC, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adopt standardised formats for the reporting of point source emissions not covered by Regulation (EU) …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶³ + , to the EEA. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

(31) It is necessary to take into account scientific and technical progress in the area of monitoring of the status of water bodies in accordance with the monitoring requirements set out in Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC. Therefore, Member States should be allowed to use of data and services from remote sensing technologies, earth observation (Copernicus services), in-situ sensors and devices, or citizen science data, leveraging the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis and processing.

(32) Considering the increases in unforeseeable weather events, in particular extreme floods and prolonged droughts, and in significant pollution incidentsresulting in or exacerbating transboundary accidental pollution, Member States should be required to ensure that immediate information on such incidents is provided to other potentially affected Member States and effectively cooperate with potentially affected Member States to mitigate the effects of the event or incident. It is also necessary to reinforce cooperation between Member States and streamline procedures for transboundary cooperation in case of more structural, i.e. non accidental and longer term transboundary issues which cannot be solved at Member State level, in accordance with Article 12 of Directive 2000/60/EC. In case European assistance is necessary, competent national authorities may send requests for assistance to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the Commission, which will coordinate possible offers of assistance and their deployment through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, in accordance with Article 15 of Decision 1313/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶⁴ .

(33) Directives 2000/60/EU, 2006/118/EC and 2008/105/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(34) Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to ensure a high level of environmental protection and an improvement of the environmental quality of European freshwaters, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States alone but can rather, by reason of the transboundary nature of water pollution, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,