Work resumed on Monday 14 January in the EU Council's Environment Working Group on the update of the 1998 Drinking Water Directive, proposed by the Commission in February 2018 to ensure safe and accessible tap water for all in the EU, in response to the Right2water Citizens' Initiative (see EUROPE 12123).
The experts from the Member States are not close to finishing their work to enable the Council to reach a general approach next June, as the Romanian Presidency hopes.
Technical work has been intense since the first orientation debate held by the European Environment Ministers in June 2018 under the Bulgarian Presidency (see EUROPE 12048). "There have been a lot of discussions, but many points remain problematic", a diplomatic source told EUROPE.
One of them concerns the degree of harmonisation of materials and products that come into contact with water (such as pipes) - an issue for which the Romanian Presidency is trying to bring delegations together around a modified compromise.
Discussions on this subject have accelerated since 19 November, under the Austrian Presidency, on the basis of a proposal by France and supported by ten Member States, to extend the scope of Article 10A to regulate all materials in contact with water from capture to tap, through water treatment, storage and distribution.
The objective is to ensure standard protection of health and the function of the interior market. The French document on which the compromise proposal is based emphasises the nature of the materials that can have an impact on water quality and cites the leaching of toxic substances, enhancement of microbial growth, influence on the odour, colour or taste of water.
Another thorny issue is the need to amend the Directive, given that the risks of salmonella are higher for hot water than for cold tap water, whereas at present the risk is only measured for cold water.
The Romanian Presidency attaches great importance to the issue of water. The proposal for a regulation on water reuse in agriculture will be the subject of a political debate on 5 March at the Environment Council. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)