Directive 2015/1787 - Amendment of Annexes II and III to Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 260/6

Annexes II and III to Directive 98/83/EC lay down the minimum requirements of the monitoring programmes for all water intended for human consumption and the specifications for the method of analysis of different parameters.

The specifications in those Annexes II and III should be updated in the light of scientific and technical progress and so as to ensure coherence with Union legislation.

Annex II to Directive 98/83/EC grants a certain degree of flexibility in performing the audit monitoring and check monitoring, allowing for less frequent sampling under certain circumstances. The specific conditions to perform the monitoring of parameters at appropriate frequencies and the range of monitoring techniques need to be clarified in the light of scientific progress.

Since 2004, the World Health Organisation has developed the water safety plan approach which is based on risk assessment and risk management principles, laid down in its Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality  (2). Those Guidelines, together with standard EN 15975-2 concerning security of drinking water supply, are internationally recognised principles on which the production, distribution, monitoring and analysis of parameters in drinking water is based. Annex II to Directive 98/83/EC should therefore be aligned to the latest updates of those principles.

To control risks to human health, the monitoring programmes should ensure that there are measures in place throughout the water supply chain and consider information from water bodies used for drinking water abstraction. The general obligations for monitoring programmes should bridge the gap between water abstraction and supply. Pursuant to Article 6 of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), Member States must ensure the establishment of register(s) of protected areas. Such protected areas include all bodies of water used for the abstraction of drinking water, or intended for such use, under Article 7(1) of that Directive. Results from the monitoring of those bodies of water under the second subparagraph of Article 7(1) and Article 8 of that Directive should be used to determine the potential risk for drinking water before and after treatment for the purposes of Directive 98/83/EC.

Experience has shown that, for many (particularly physico-chemical) parameters, the concentrations present would rarely result in any breach of limit values. Monitoring and reporting such parameters without practical relevance imply significant costs, especially where a large number of parameters need to be considered. Introducing flexible monitoring frequencies under such circumstances presents potential cost-saving opportunities that would not damage public health or other benefits. Flexible monitoring also reduces the collection of data that provide little or no information on the quality of the drinking water.

Member States should therefore be allowed to derogate from the monitoring programmes they have established, provided credible risk assessments are performed, which may be based on the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality and should take into account the monitoring carried out under Article 8 of Directive 2000/60/EC.

Table B2 in Annex II to...