Drinking Water (Directive)
The EU Commission has revised the Drinking Water Directive: In future, in addition to bringing limits on pollutants into line with the latest scientific knowledge, a “risk-based approach” will ensure that threats to the drinking-water supply are recognised early. In addition, Member States must improve access to drinking water.
cepPolicyBrief
In cep’s view, the introduction of a “risk-based approach” is appropriate because it allows threats to the drinking-water supply to be discovered early, and rapidly removed, along the whole supply chain, from the extraction of drinking water from bodies of water right through to the tap. The Commission’s proposal to develop EU-wide hygiene and safety standards for construction products such as taps, used in connection with drinking water, is appropriate in order to allow them to be traded freely in the internal market. The proposed rules on access to drinking water should be rejected, however, because these are reserved for the Member States.
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