Water legislation
EP adopts resolution to protect workers from asbestos
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on protecting workers from asbestos, recognising there may be a risk. The recommendations are non-binding, but include a reference to the Precautionary Principle and additional monitoring of water at national level. It is possible that recovery funds can be used to address the problem of asbestos in pipes. The Commission will propose measures to protect workers.
UWWTD revision: stakeholder meeting
The European Commission held a stakeholder meeting on the next steps of the UWWTD on 26 October. They expect a proposal to come in “mid-2022”.
Policy options on waste water pollution were outlined in three areas of improvement addressing: i) remaining urban waste water pollution like individual or other appropriate systems (IAS), small agglomerations, sensitive areas, storm water overflows and industrial pollution in public networks; ii) emerging concerns like micropollutants, circular economy, energy efficiency, GHG emissions and virus surveillance systems; and iii) governance, featuring, inter alia, extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, investment planning, transparency and the right to sanitation for vulnerable people.
Michael Bentvelsen, co-chairperson of our committee on waste water, intervened for EurEau, discussing pollutants of emerging concern, energy and the Circular Economy. He stressed the importance of controlling pollution at source.
The UWWTD concerns the collection, treatment and discharge of urban waste water and the treatment and discharge of waste water from certain industrial sectors.
Water and agriculture
Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUD): revision advances
The SUD revision is now expected for early 2022 according to the European Commission’s latest. The evaluation and the impact assessment are being carried out back to back. The revision is set to improve Article 11 on the protection of drinking water resources and be linked to the 50% reduction in pesticide use in the Farm 2 Fork Strategy (F2F). It will also contain calls for better transparency on the information of pest-control products.
The European Commission is evaluating the SUD in order to revise it according to the Farm-to-Fork Strategy objectives. The SUD aims to protect human health and the environment from the possible risks and impacts of pesticides. This initiative reviews options for further reducing pesticide use to help meet the goals of the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Green Deal.
Claudia Castell-Exner, EurEau President, spoke at the 3rd stakeholder meeting on the SUD (5 October) about the need to properly implement the Polluter Pays Principle.
Farm-to-Fork Strategy: Parliament adopts ambitious report
The European Parliament’s plenary meeting adopted an ambitious own-initiative report on the Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy. While it is non-binding, it offers broad support for stringent Commission proposals towards achieving coherence between this strategy and the Green Deal objectives, including climate, biodiversity, zero pollution and health. MEPs also call for strengthening the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive and support binding reduction targets for the use of pesticide and antibiotics and for nutrient losses.
Read our reaction to the EP vote here.
Water and the environment
EQSD and GWD revision: your chance to input
Over the summer, the European Commission launched two consultations, as part of the review and possible revision of the EQSD and GWD.
You can find our submission to the public consultation here.
Protecting the marine environment: public consultation response submitted
We submitted our contribution to the survey 'Review of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive'.
The aim of the European Union's directive is to more effectively protect the marine environment across Europe.
SUP Directive: EurEau submits paper on wet wipes in sewers
The Single Use Plastics Directive aims to reduce the release of certain plastic items into (marine) environment. The agreed text does not specify whether waste water infrastructure is included in the EPR scheme to cover the costs for the collection, transport and treatment of certain products including wet wipes (Article 8.3(b)).
The Commission is drafting a guidance paper on the calculation of the above costs.
Biodegradable plastics: EurEau comments on the Commission roadmap
The Commission intends to draft a (non-legislative) communication to define and label biobased, biodegradable and compostable plastics. In its response to the Commission roadmap, EurEau supports the initiative but called for compulsory “do not flush” labels to avoid problems in the sewer infrastructure.
PFAS: new reports and EurEau next steps
One report and one article were just published highlighting PFAS.
The Danish environmental protection agency set PFAS limit values for sewage sludge (in Danish)
The USA EPA report on the PFAS Strategic roadmap is here.
The EP Intergroup will meet on PFAS on 29 November. You can register here.
Pharmaceutical legislation revision: public consultation open
The public consultation on the pharmaceutical legislation is open, with a deadline of 21 December.
In the European Parliament, the ENVI committee own-initiate report was adopted, including the 27 Compromise Amendments on the environmental aspects of pharmaceuticals.
It will be on the Plenary agenda of the session starting 22 November.
Industrial Emissions Directive: process advances
The IED is not covered in the recently released Commission Work Programme 2022 as it is included in the 2021 work programme. The proposal is expected now in early 2022.
Industrial waste water discharges into sewers are regulated by the UWWTD and the IED, which are under revision. The aims of the revision are to progress towards the EU’s zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment and to support climate, energy and circular economy policies. This includes the revision of the E-PRTR Regulation too.
Revision of CLP Regulation: public consultation
A public consultation on the revision of the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP Regulation) was launched by the Commission. The Regulation’s purpose is to ensure a high level of health and environmental protection, as well as the free movement of substances and mixtures.
Feedback must be submitted by 15 November. We expect the Commission’s proposal in Q2 2022.
Water as an essential service
Critical Entities Resilience Directive: Parliament Committee adopts report
The European Parliament’s LIBE committee adopted its report on the Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CERD). Parliament wants to strengthen consistency with the NIS2 directive and facilitate the access of critical entities, in particular SMEs, to support measures. The use of recognised standards and specifications is supported.
This report will be used for negotiations with the Council (Member States) to agree the final directive.
