At 1:00 on Thursday morning, 19 December, Parliament and EU Council negotiators, assisted by the Commission, reached a provisional agreement on recasting the 1998 Drinking Water Directive to ensure access to safe tap water for all. The wish of the outgoing Finnish Presidency was therefore granted at the end of this fifth trilogue (see EUROPE 12385/16).
On the most difficult points, the compromise reached sets stricter limit values for contaminants such as lead, introduces new rules for emerging pollutants such as endocrine disrupters and microplastics, improves access to drinking water for vulnerable people and access to free water in public buildings, said Parliament’s negotiator Christoph Hansen.
Krista Mikkonen, on behalf of the outgoing Finnish Presidency, and Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius both welcomed this breakthrough. For lead, the limit value has been halved (5 microgrammes per litre). A limit value is foreseen for bisphenol A, for which the Greens/EFA in Parliament had fought.
Other endocrine disrupters, pharmaceuticals and microplastics are cited as being candidates for inclusion in the monitoring list of substances for which scientific data need to be completed.
A limit value is introduced for around 20 PFAS (there are 4,700 of these chemical substances that do not degrade in the environment or in the body) and within 3 years the Commission will have to develop a method for measuring all PFAS.
A list will be drawn up of all materials and substances in contact with drinking water which meet strict safety requirements for human health (Article 10, which was particularly important to the EU Council). The agreed text gives the European Chemicals Agency a key role in ensuring that only safe substances can be used in pipes and taps in contact with water. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)