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News

Parliament vote wraps up EU water quality law[fr][de]

Published: Wednesday 18 June 2008

The Parliament yesterday (17 June) voted by a large majority in support of new EU water quality rules based on a compromise agreement reached earlier with the Council. The vote signals the finalisation of the EU's Water Framework Directive, proposed in 2000.

Background:

EU water policies comprise a large body of legislation covering areas as diverse as flood management, bathing water quality, chemicals in water, clean drinking water, groundwater protection and urban waste water. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), adopted in 2000, was introduced to streamline the EU's large body of water legislation into one overarching strategy.

The main objective of the WFD is for all of the EU's waters to have attained 'good status' by 2015. To this end, the Commission in 2001 published a list of 41 substances, including 33 "priority substances" and eight other pollutants, that are considered potentially hazardous to the aquatic environment. Of the 33 priority substances, there is a further sub-classification for "priority hazardous substances," which must be phased-out of use in member states in less than 20 years.

Previously, Parliament and the Council had diverging positions concerning the number of priority substances and their concentration limits in surface waters, with the Council rejecting Parliament's calls for an extension of the list of substances.

Other related news:

Central to the agreement is a pledge by member states to "make progress towards compliance" on environmental quality standards (EQS) for 33 pollutants by 2018. The standards are based on maximum concentration levels and yearly average pollutant values that are harmonised throughout the EU.

Of the 33 substances affected, 13 are currently qualified as 'priority hazardous' and would need to be entirely phased out within 20 years, as suggested in the Commission's original text. The 13 substances include heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium.

MEPs in the environment committee had pushed for a significant expansion of the list. But the demand was dropped as part of the compromise with the Council, whereby the list could be expanded pending a Commission review in 2013, or two years after the law enters into force in 2011.

Standards for any new priority hazardous substances identified would also be proposed by the Commission and would be adopted by Council and Parliament two years later, in 2015.

By 2009, member states will also be obliged to set up an inventory of emissions, discharges and losses of pollutants for river basins on their territory. The Commission will use this inventory to measure progress on the phasing out of priority hazardous substances, and will present a status report in 2018.

Positions:

The Commission is convinced the environmental standards set out in the text "will give a high level of protection to the environment and human health by translating the concept of 'good status' into transparent numerical values based on best available science and knowledge," according to a 17 June statement.

UK Conservative MEP Robert Sturdy rejoiced over the vote. "Working closely with industry organisations and environmental lobby groups, we worked out a balance between meeting our environmental responsibilities and protecting our ports and water industries from undue bureaucratic and financial burdens," he said in a statement.