EurEau Newsletter - December 2021
EurEau News
Christmas greetings
A very happy holiday season to all our members and colleagues, and best wishes for a healthy and safe 2022, from all at the EurEau Secretariat and Claudia Castell-Exner, EurEau President.
Factsheets – valuing our recyclable materials
Waste water has a significant potential for resource recovery, making a serious contribution to the Circular Economy. If the EU were to create an End of Waste (EoW) status for it in the frame of the Circular Economy Action Plan, it will increase the amount of waste that can be reused and support an emerging market.
Our factsheets demonstrate why products recovered from waste water treatment streams are ready to obtain an EU EoW status. We show that they have a real market value and could support the European economy if given the go-ahead.
Zero Pollution Stakeholders platform
EurEau was selected by the European Commission to be one of the 37 members of the EU Zero Pollution platform whose first meeting took place on 16 December. We will be represented by EurEau President, Dr Claudia Castell-Exner and JWG WFD chairperson, Anders Finnson.
To know more about the platform see .
EurEau’s podcast ‘Water Matters’ season 2
Water Matters podcast continues, with the last episode of season 2 . We spoke to Gilbert Nordenswan from Svenskt Vatten about climate change!
You can listen by clicking on the above link or on your favourite podcast app; just search for ‘Water Matters’.
Speaking Out
Dr Claudia Castell-Exner, EurEau President, spoke at the European Parliament Intergroup meeting on PFAS on 29 November to highlight that control at source is the only way to keep PFAS out of the environment, thereby protecting people and the planet. The recording of the webinar can be found .
Claudia also spoke at the Wareg forum on 1 December on how to remove regulatory barriers for water innovation.
Bertrand Vallet from the EurEau Secretariat spoke at the 2nd International Conference Strategies toward Green Deal Implementation: Water, Raw Materials & Energy on 8-10 December 2021 (online). He explained how water is represented in the Green Deal Strategies. .
EU news
Water and agriculture
SUD: adaptation coming
According to the Commission 2022 provisional agenda, the Sustainable Use of Pesticides proposal could be adopted on 23 March 2022.
Water and the environment
WFD latest
The European Commission adopted the 6th Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive Implementation Report on 15 December. All the relevant documents are available .
The European Commission is working on a ‘Water Resilience Agenda’ that should consider thoroughly water efficiency in the legislative proposals of sectoral legislation: something to follow closely.
The Water Framework Directive commits EU Member States to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies by 2027.
PFAS: ECHA supports the restriction of another ‘forever chemical’
ECHA’s Committees for Risk Assessment and Socio-Economic Analysis support the proposal to restrict the use of PFHxA and related substances that are very persistent and mobile in the environment and can damage the human reproductive system. If approved by the Commission, the restriction would reduce environmental and human exposure mainly from uses in food contact materials, textiles and fire-fighting foams.
PFHxA is included in the parametric value for the sum of 20 PFAS under the Drinking Water Directive.
Microplastics: Roadmap announces forthcoming legislation
The Commission is preparing a legislative proposal to mitigate the unintentional release of microplastics, mainly from textiles, tyres and pellets. The deadline for feedback was extended until 18 January 2022.
Pharmaceuticals legislation: new proposal next year
The revision of general pharmaceutical legislation is ongoing. The Commission aims to adopt a new legislative proposal by Dec 2022.
EurEau submitted our answer to the public consultation.
The deadline for the targeted stakeholders’ survey is 21 Dec.
The EP Plenary the resolution on the Pharmaceuticals Strategy with very positive messages for the Commission.
The legal framework for human medicines sets standards to ensure a high level of public health protection and the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines. It promotes the functioning of the internal market, with measures to encourage innovation. A medicinal product requires a marketing authorisation by the competent authorities before being placed on the market.
IED: Commission publishes implementation report
The Commission published its on the implementation of the 2010 Industrial Emissions Directive.
Water as an essential service
NIS Directive: Council adopts common approach
The draft revised NIS Directive aims to achieve a high level of security of network and information systems across the EU. The EU Council has now approved its on the draft revised Directive paving the way for the start of the trilogue negotiations with Parliament. Member States extended the application field to an “all-hazard” approach including not only cyber-attacks but also physical damage to NIS.
EurEau welcomes the amendments in favour of small and micro-operators. Their potential inclusion in the directive would be subject to a national risk assessment. If they were included, requirements should be proportional to their size.
CER Directive: Council to adopt common approach before Christmas
Member states have progressed on the second security-related directive, the Critical Entities Resilience Directive. This draft legal act aims to strengthen the capacity to resist to and recover from malicious acts or natural disasters.
The common approach was agreed by ambassadors at the beginning of December, should be formally adopted by the Council on 20 December 2021. The Trilogue negotiations with the EU Parliament should start at the beginning of next year.
Other news
Polluter-Pays Study
The IEEP carried out a on ‘Green taxation and other economic instruments – Internalising environmental costs to make the polluter pay’.
EEA water indicators
The EEA published their on indicators in water resources.
Events
26-27 January 2022 - Smart Water Utilities conference and exhibition. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2022 – CEOCOR; hosted by ÖVGW in Vienna, Austria. (postponed from 2021).
20-22 June 2022 - 4th European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform, Vienna & hybrid
22-24 June 2022 - Water Safety Conference in Narvik, Norway. More.
11-15 September 2022 - ; Water for smart liveable cities in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Call for Content is open and you can read more .
12-15 September 2022 - LuWQ2022, 5th International Interdisciplinary Conference on LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY: Agriculture and the Environment; Maastricht, The Netherlands.
- Created on .