Today, the European Parliament’s plenary meeting rejected the report of the Environment Committee on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products Regulation (SUR). As there was no decision to refer the report back to the Committee level, Parliament has effectively stopped the legislative process for the SUR.

EurEau deeply regrets this decision, as the bill contained a number of provisions that would have strengthened the protection of our scarce drinking water resources from pesticide contamination.

“It is disappointing to see that the European Parliament was unwilling to support stronger control-at-source measures for pesticides. This leaves the full burden of guaranteeing healthy water to drinking water suppliers with the additional treatment costs being shouldered by water consumers”, stated EurEau Secretary General, Oliver Loebel.

Agriculture is by far the most important source of pesticides and their metabolites in surface water and groundwater bodies used for the abstraction of drinking water.