Our Publications

The EU’s proposed procurement framework treats drinking water and wastewater differently, despite their similar operational characteristics.
EurEau calls for wastewater treatment to be recognised as an autonomous utility activity, bringing the whole water sector under a unified procurement regime.

EurEau calls for a voluntary, locally driven approach to water reuse, recognising wastewater operators as strategic partners in promoting water reuse in line with the EU Water Resilience Strategy while protecting drinking water resources. It also calls for full cost recovery for water reuse, and sees no need to extend the current Water Reuse Regulation to additional uses, including industrial reuse.

These recommendations call for an enabling, risk-aware approach to digitalisation, focused on reliability, security and continuity of essential water services. They emphasise readiness, good governance, data quality and proportionate implementation, while recognising both the opportunities and risks for water utilities.

The simplification of environmental assessments needs to strike the right balance to avoid creating loopholes for sectors with significant environmental footprints.

The Commission proposal for the ‘Simplification and strengthening of food and feed safety requirements’ modifies the conditions for placing pesticides and biocides on the market It contains welcome measures to accelerate access to the market for new biocontrol substances and products.
However, several proposals will negatively affect compliance with article 7.3 of the Water Framework Directive and the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive, such as unlimited approval period of most active substances. Furthermore, it must be possible to ban pesticide uses easily and promptly as soon as monitoring data show that the environmental quality objectives of the Water Framework Directive are at risk from these substances. We call on the co-legislators to ensure the full protection of drinking water resources and avoid legal uncertainty between Regulation 1107/2009 and the DWD.

Protecting our drinking water resources in a changing geopolitical climate

The INSPIRE Directive must be consistent with EU legislation aimed at protecting critical entities and vital societal services. The protection of public health and the environment must prevail over the right to access certain spatial data. Member States should be required to ensure that spatial data of infrastructure managed by the sectors listed in the annex to Directive 2022/2557 should not be made publically accessible, unless it are not security-relevant.

The limitation only applies to spatial data and not to environmental data.

Drinking water and wastewater services are essential to the functioning of Europe’s societies and its internal market. As the European Union prepares the next Multiannual Financial Framework, funding for cohesion, prosperity and security represents a key opportunity to strengthen the resilience, sustainability and climate neutrality of the water services sector, in line with the objectives of the European Water Resilience Strategy.

EurEau welcomes the Commission’s proposal for the National and Regional Partnership (NRP) Regulation and sets out targeted recommendations to ensure that water services infrastructure is adequately supported in the next seven-year financing cycle. These recommendations focus on securing explicit eligibility for water services infrastructure, mainstreaming funding across climate, environmental and security objectives, strengthening governance through the involvement of water service providers, and improving the sector’s capacity to absorb available funding.

As part of its recommendations, EurEau calls for a better protection of water resources. The classification of PMT and vPvM substances as substances of very high concern is essential, as these substances tend to accumulate in our scarce water resources. Furthermore, the Authorisation Procedure should be strengthened and the Generic Risk Assessment (GRA) approach extended. Last but not least, the current REACH rules should be applied to implement a prompt and far-reaching ban of PFAS uses.

BPA mainly enters the body through food, but its presence in drinking water also needs attention. While the EU ban on BPA in food contact materials is a positive step, it should be followed by a full REACH restriction, targeting BPA analogues and promoting safer alternatives. Since BPA transfers to water at higher temperatures, it should be banned from hot-water systems. The revision of BPA limits in the Drinking Water Directive should include a realistic timeline for suppliers to comply with new standards.