EU news
Urban Water Agenda 2030
EurEau answered the public consultation of the UWA2030. The consultation is still running and you can submit your input here.

The Conference ‘Mayors and Water’ will take place in Porto on 29 September and Carla from the EurEau Secretariat will attend. The draft agenda is available hereand the draft Porto declaration is here.

Water Reuse
The European Commission plans to finalise an impact assessment of a new EU instrument on water reuse by the end of August 2017 and to submit it to the Regular Scrutiny Board of the Commission on 27 September 2017. If the boards’ response is positive,  the Commission intends to adopt the legal proposal by the end of this year.

Water and agriculture 
EurEau drinking water experts are gathering experiences of cooperation between water utilities and farmers to support the work of the European Commission for rethinking the CAP beyond 2020.

EDC identifant list proposed
Experts from the 28 EU Member States approved a proposed list of criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in plant protection products in early July. This move was presented by the European Commission as a step towards a broader regulatory system for similar chemicals used in cosmetics, toys and food packaging. The Parliament and the Council have three months to react. more…(EurActiv).
On the 12 July, experts from the Member States’ Competent Authorities for the implementation of the Biocide Products Regulation (EU 528/2012) met. The European Commission adopted the Delegated Regulation, taking comments into account, and submitted it to the Council and the Parliament. These have a two month period, from  21 Agust 2017, to submit any objections.
More information on the EDC can be found on the Commission’s page here.

European Parliament assesses the 7th Environment Action Programme 2014-2020
At the request of the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee, the European Parliamentary Research Service conducted a targeted stakeholder survey on the implementation of the 7th Environment Action Programme 2014-2020 (7th EAP). We completed the questionnaire.

EurEau contributes to evaluation of the Detergents Regulation
Risk & Policy Analysts Ltd (RPA) was commissioned by DG GROW to support the evaluation of the Detergents Regulation (648/2004). We contributed to this study via a phone interview. Our key message is that the regulation is an effective ‘control at source’ tool that has contributed to improving water quality in rivers and lakes.

EurEau comments on the Roadmap for an EU tyre labelling scheme
Amongst other topics, the evaluation and impact assessment on the EUtyre labellingscheme will examine whether information on abrasion (which contributes to air pollution and microplastics in the water supply) can be improved. In its reaction, we called for mandatory labelling regarding abrasion.
The Roadmap is here.

JRC report on the Watch List 
The report of the JRC on the first Watch List results is available and open for comments.
For the next Watch List, the JRC proposes to deselect some substances (diclofenac is amongst those proposed to be deselected) since they got good data sets from Member States. Of course this does not mean that in the prioritisation exercise those substances will not be taken into account: in fact the data generated by the Watch List will be considered when drafting the next priority substance list.

The JRC also proposes new substances to be added to the next Watch List (there are no pharmaceuticals for human consumption amongst these so far. Aside from Chromium 6, the substances on the list are mainly pesticides and herbicides).


EurEau contributes to the assessment of the Bathing Water Directive
Milieu Ltd was selected by DG Environment to provide “Support to the assessment of Member States’ compliance with Directive 2006/7/EC”. EurEau participated in an interview to give our opinion of the implementation of the BWD on the ground. While not directly responsible for its implementation, waste water operators have an impact on the quality of bathing waters and depend on its proper implementation by the competent authorities. This work will continue in the autumn through more specific interviews to EurEau members.

UNECE meeting on equitable access to water and sanitation
We were invited to join the Expert Group meeting on equitable access to water and sanitation to be held on 13-14 September in Budapest. This group gathers the representatives of the countries signatories to the UNECE/WHO Water and Health protocol. This group will share experiences on the implementation of SDG6. Carla from the EurEau Secretariat will attend and present EurEau’s work on “Making the human right to water and sanitation a reality in Europe- The role of affordability mechanisms”.

MEPs open the door to recovered products from sewage sludge
The European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee (IMCO) voted on 13 July on amendments to the Fertiliser Regulation, suggesting the market be expanded to more innovative products such as organic fertilisers and compost. Related to water services, MEPs also asked for:

• a delegated act to further complement the annexes with struvite and ash-based products
• an extra category for mineral fertilisers with low organic carbon content that will ensure the possibility to include recovered products from sewage sludge (struvite and ash-based products)
• the separation of the production lines so CE-marked and national fertilisers can be produced on the same site (important as sewage sludge is not included as input material for compost)
• the traceability for all recovered product that is a step to further ensure the good quality of the recovered product from sewage sludge.
• The plenary vote is scheduled for mid-September.

We are currently finalising our comments on these draft quality criteria as developed by the JRC’s STRUBIAS Working Group.
Read more here (article from EurActiv features EurEau secretariat’s Bertrand Vallet).

EurEau communications and media
Former EurEau president Albert Desmed passes away
EurEau regrets to inform you that Albert Desmed who held the organisation’spresidency from 1994-96 died on 15 July 2017 at the age of 89 years. Our thoughts are with his family.

New ÖWAV homepage 
Our Austrian member launched its new website www.oewav.at. Congratulations!

Scottish regulator reviews pricing policy
The Scottish Water Industry Commission is evaluating the Scottish water sector with a view to determine water charges for 2021-27.
Its views are summarised in a number of ’Initial Decision Papers’ which can be accessed here.


You can see a list of events happening around Europe here. The following are a selection. If you have events happening in your country, let us know, especially if you would like to get the EurEau perspective by having us represented at it!
Important dates
5 September: ESPP event on the fertiliser regulation.
13 September: Stakeholder meeting in micro-plastics and WWTP.
13 September: UNECE Expert Group on Equitable access to water and sanitation (Budapest, Hungary).
19 September: Meeting EU1 representatives and DG ENV on the revision of the DWD.
20-23 September: International Network of Basin Organisations meet in Dublin.
26 September: Commisson conference ‘Reinventing Plastics – Closing the Circle’.
27-28 September: EIP Water Conference in Porto (Portugal).
29 September: Mayors and Water in Porto (Portugal).
4 October: Les Assises de l’eau (Meux, Belgium).
8-11 October: Water Festival (Bari, IT).
9-10 October:  Water Reuse Europe will hold its first annual conference and exhibition in Bruges.