On Tuesday 27 June, the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted the amended report by Milan Brglez (S&D, Slovenia) by 69 votes to 4 with 15 abstentions, which supports and strengthens the Commission’s October 2022 proposal to revise the Waste Water Directive (91/271/EEC) and the Freshwater Directive with a view to achieving the zero-pollution ambition for water (see EUROPE 13051/2).
For freshwater quality, MEPs want the watch list - which contains substances or groups of substances for which there are indications that they pose a significant risk to human health and the environment - to be updated regularly to take account of new scientific evidence and the rapid development of new emerging chemical substances.
MEPs also want microplastics, antimicrobial-resistant micro-organisms and certain antimicrobial resistance genes to be added to the list as soon as appropriate control methods have been identified, as well as, possibly, sulphates, xanthates and non-relevant pesticide metabolites.
For groundwater, they are calling for the threshold values applicable to be ten times lower than those used for surface water.
They also want a subset of specific PFASs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and the total PFAS (a parameter comprising all PFASs with a maximum concentration) to be added to the list of pollutants, as these ‘forever pollutants’ have been detected in over 70% of groundwater measurement points in the EU. Similarly, MEPs want stricter standards for glyphosate, bisphenol (total bisphenol), atrazine, pharmaceuticals and irrelevant metabolites of pesticides.
MEPs are in favour of a system of extended producer responsibility, under which industries would contribute to the cost of monitoring the substances it places on the market, in application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
The European Parliament is expected to adopt its position in September.
To see the amended report, go to https://aeur.eu/f/7s6 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)