The European Parliament supports the updating of the 1998 Drinking Water Directive to improve the quality and safety of tap water and facilitate access to it for all in the EU.
This support was confirmed on Tuesday 15 December in a debate ahead of the final vote scheduled for Thursday to confirm the political compromise reached exactly one year ago between Parliament and the EU Council (see EUROPE 12395/9). The Council did not adopt its position until last October (see EUROPE 12588/26).
In the absence of a proposal to reject it, the text can be deemed adopted, Parliament stressed on Tuesday.
Rapporteur Christophe Hansen (EPP, Luxembourg) welcomed the agreement, which he said “takes into account the Right2water citizens’ initiative”. This is evidenced by the addition of Article 13 on access to water for the benefit of minorities and the most vulnerable homeless, obtained by Parliament.
He also welcomed the consideration of the WHO recommended limit values, in particular for lead. “We have gone further for endocrine disruptors, bisphenol A and microplastics, which are finally being taken into account”, he said, thanking his colleagues.
The environmental benefits of this directive have also been welcomed, in that it will encourage consumers to drink tap water rather than water in plastic bottles.
“Consumers need to know that tap water is of the same quality as bottled water which uses a thousand times more energy to produce and transport”, Hansen said.
MEPs welcomed these advances by an overwhelming majority.
MEPs from the GUE/NGL group, such as Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, deplored the fact that the text does not respond to the citizens’ initiative which called for recognition of water as a “public good”, “a universal right”. “This is a missed opportunity”, according to Cesar Luena.
ID and non-attached members have also expressed their opposition to the privatisation of water. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)