The negotiating mandate adopted on the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) by the European Parliament on 11 July secures important safeguards for the aquatic environment and water services, but rolls back ambitious proposals on water efficiency.

The revised Directive, as amended in Parliament, will give water services a say in the permitting of industrial facilities in their catchment area to ensure that permitted emissions do not harm drinking water resources or wastewater treatment infrastructure. It will provide new guarantees against harmful releases to urban sewers, which can damage urban wastewater treatment plants, the last barrier against the pollution of surface water, and mandate that water services be informed as soon as unforeseen pollution to water occurs.

On the other hand, we deplore MEPs’ choice to dilute significantly the ambitious water efficiency provisions introduced in the Commission proposal by making environmental performance values indicative only, the weakening of compensation rights and the refusal in Plenary to expand the Directive’s scope of application to more industrial farms. 

We look forward to inter-institutional negotiations in the hope that the co-legislators reach an ambitious compromise in the best interest of citizens’ health and the environment they live in.