Drinking Water Directive

The Drinking Water Directive (DWD), Council Directive 98/83/EC, concerns the quality of water intended for human consumption.

The objective of the Drinking Water Directive is to protect the health of the consumers in the European Union and to make sure the water is wholesome and clean.

To make sure drinking water everywhere in the EU is indeed healthy, clean and tasty, the Drinking Water Directive sets standards for the most common substances (so-called parameters) that can be found in drinking water. In the DWD a total of 48 microbiological and chemical parameters must be monitored and tested regularly. In principle WHO guidelines for drinking water are used as a basis for the standards in the Drinking Water Directive.

While translating the Drinking Water Directive into their own national legislation (transposition of the DWD), the Member States of the European Union can include additional requirements e.g. regulate additional substances that are relevant within their territory or set higher standards. But Member States are not allowed to set lower standards as the level of protection of human health should be the same within the whole EU.

Member States have to monitor the quality of the drinking water supplied to their citizens and of the water used in the food production industry. This has to be done mainly at the tap inside private and public premises. Member States report at three yearly intervals the monitoring results to the European Commission.

The Commission assesses the results of water quality monitoring against the standards in the Drinking Water Directive. After each reporting cycle the Commission produces a synthesis report, which summarises the quality of drinking water and its improvement at a European level. The synthesis reports are available to the public and can be found on this site for the reporting period 1993-1995 and for the period 1996-1998.

The Commission assesses the results of water quality monitoring against the standards in the Drinking Water Directive. After each reporting cycle the Commission produces a synthesis report, which summarises the quality of drinking water and its improvement at a European level. The synthesis reports are available to the public and can be found on this site for the reporting period 1993-1995, for the period 1996-1998 and for the period 1999-2001. This report takes into account data received by the Member States not later than January 2008. The Commission is currently processing the data for the period 2002-2004 and they are expected to be on line by July 2008.

In order to adapt the Directive to progress in science and technology and to address the changed context met after the enlargement of the Union, the Commission is currently preparing a revision of the Directive. A large public consultation in 2003, named the Drinking Water Seminar, indicated the main topics to be covered by the revision of the Directive. They are: bacteriological contamination, chemical substances including construction products in contact with drinking water, small water supplies and risk assessment and risk management.

The concept of risk assessment and risk management during the production and distribution of drinking water was introduced by WHO in the 2004 Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. This concept was introduced in the context of Water Safety Plans. The methodology is still under study by the Commission. By taking on board this approach, the quality surveillance of the drinking water would shift from the current control of drinking water at the tap towards quality management along the production and distribution cycle from capture to tap.

A working group, managed by WHO was created in order to produce an expert guidance document advising the Commission how to ‘anchor’ the concept of WSP in the revised legislation. This approach must guide the integration of the WSP concept in the proposal for a new directive, stating the minimum requirements for a valid WSP implementation and/or establishing the necessary guidance. Click to download the report of the working group.

Announcement of the third stakeholder consultation on 6 May 2008

Third Stakeholder Consultation on the revision of the Drinking Water Directive

A third Consultation will take place on 6 May 2008 in Room C of the office building of DG Environment, Av. de Beaulieu 5, 1160 Brussels from 10 AM until 5 PM.

In this meeting , the Commission will present the progress made in the revision process.

Global options of the proposal for a revised Directive will be presented. Stakeholders will be invited to ask questions, to come up with comments or positions. There will be possibility for discussion. A detailed agenda will be provided, but this meeting will mainly deal with the (chemical) parameters and with the assessment of impacts for the proposal of the revised Drinking Water Directive.

The Commission re-invites the stakeholders who participated in the first two meetings and those who expressed interest but were held back. However, due to space limitations, we must limit the number of participants to the Stakeholder Consultation Meeting as we did previously. Member States are requested to limit their participation strictly to two persons.

We ask you to confirm your participation not later than 30 April 2008 at 12 PM with Ms. Brigitte Fuchs at the address brigitte.fuchs@ec.europa.eu.

Documents will be made available on the Circa site for the revision of the Drinking Water Directive.

Registration:

The Commission welcomes authorities from the Member States (2 representatives each) and participants from EU-wide organisations including in the following fields (number of representatives between brackets):

• NGOs and consumer protection associations (5)
• Water utilities (5)
• Water associations (2)
• Building technical contractors and suppliers of equipment (2)
• Producers of chemical products and products for agriculture (2)
• Industries producing consumer products (2)
• International organisations and organisations related to standardisation (2)
• Producers of industrial products and commodities (2)

The Commission will either confirm the availability or provide the opportunity to submit position papers or react on the documents which will be presented before the meeting. In any case, stakeholders who will not be able to participate will be provided the opportunity to hand in comments in writing.

The meeting will take place in English. The Commission cannot foresee reimbursement of travel or hotel expenses.

Guidance Document on reporting under the Drinking Water Directive

On 17 January 2005, the Management Committee of the Drinking Water Directive agreed to develop an expert background paper with guidance on harmonised reporting methods and formats for the Drinking Water Directive and delegated this task to a Subgroup.

This Guidance Document on reporting under the Drinking Water Directive (pdf 97KB) is the outcome of the work of the Subgroup. The Committee of the Drinking Water Directive, where the Member States and Norway are represented, reached a consensus on this Guidance Document on 8 May 2007.

It presents a new, table-oriented way of reporting, in line with the Drinking Water Directive and with the WISE approach for reporting.

The technical implementation starts in 2007 with the aim of implementing these harmonised reporting methods and formats.