In the letter of intent accompanying the 2021 State of the Union speech, the European Commission announced that it would present in 2022 a legislative proposal on integrated water management – surface and groundwater pollutants.

The initiative will contribute to the implementation of the Zero Pollution Action Plan, adopted in May 2021 under the European Green Deal.

The Water Framework Directive is the main legal instrument for protecting Europe’s water bodies, alongside its two daughter directives, the Environmental Quality Standards Directive and the Groundwater Directive. It covers inland, transitional and coastal surface waters as well as ground waters. The Water Framework Directive and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive identify 'priority substances', for which standards have to be fulfilled in surface waters and whose emissions have to be reduced or (in the case of priority hazardous substances) phased out. Currently, 53 substances are covered in legislation for surface water (mainly pesticides, industrial chemicals and metals). The Groundwater Directive sets standards for pesticides and nitrates in groundwater and identifies a minimum number of other substances for Member States to consider setting thresholds. Under the directives, the Commission has a legal obligation to review these lists of pollutants regularly.

According to the roadmap published in October 2020, the initiative will address some of the shortcomings identified in the recent fitness check of EU water legislation as regards chemical pollution, updating the lists of pollutants affecting surface and ground waters, and the corresponding regulatory standards.

In its 2020 resolution on the implementation of EU water legislation, Parliament stressed that substances relevant to production of drinking water, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and relevant pharmaceuticals, should be added to the list of priority substances. It insisted that pollutants of emerging concern and mixed toxicity be addressed within the framework of the Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives. It called on the Commission to update and add relevant substances in the annexes of the Priority Substances Directive and the Groundwater Directive, in order to make it possible to reach the goals of the Water Framework Directive and to better protect drinking water resources; and to align the implementation of water legislation with the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and the Biodiversity Strategy so that freshwater bodies and their ecosystems are adequately protected.

The Commission tabled its proposal on 26 October 2022, as part of a zero-pollution legislative package. The proposed directive would add 23 individual substances to the list of priority substances for surface waters, including pesticides such as glyphosate, some pharmaceuticals (painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics), bisphenol A, and a group of 24 PFAS. As regards groundwater, the 24 PFAS, two pharmaceuticals and a range of pesticide breakdown products would be added to the list of substances subject to EU-level standards, while a pharmaceutical would be added to the list of substances where Member States need to consider setting a national threshold. As soon as suitable monitoring methods have been identified, micro-plastics and selected antimicrobial resistance genes substances should be included in the existing 'watch list' for surface water bodies, and in the 'watch list' that the Commission proposes to establish for groundwater bodies. On another front, the proposal would introduce an obligation, in case of exceptional circumstances of natural origin or force majeure (extreme floods, prolonged droughts, or significant pollution incidents), for competent authorities of all possibly affected water bodies including in downstream Member States to alert each other and cooperate to minimise damage and address consequences. This new provision is aimed at improving the response to events such as the Oder river pollution in summer 2022.

In Parliament, the file was referred to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), which appointed Milan Brglez (S&D, Slovenia) as rapporteur on 11 January 2023. 

The ENVI Committee adopted its legislative report on 27 June 2023. To better protect groundwater, the report requests that the threshold values applicable to groundwater be ten times lower than the corresponding standards for surface water, except in certain cases. It requires additional parameters and standards for 'bisphenols total' and 'pharmaceutical active substances total' in surface waters; and for 'PFAS total' in both surface waters and groundwater. The report tightens the standards for glyphosate, atrazine and non-relevant pesticide metabolites, and suggests not limiting the number of substances on the watch lists. Within one year of the directive's entry into force, the Commission would be required to look into the possible introduction of an extended producer responsibility mechanism for producers placing on the EU market products containing priority substances, as well as substances of emerging concern included in the watch lists, to help cover the costs of monitoring programmes. The report also adds provisions on access to justice. On 12 September 2023, Parliament's plenary adopted the report with 495 votes in favour, 12 against and 124 abstentions, setting Parliament's mandate for negotiations with the Council.

As the 9th term was about to end, and the Council still had not agreed  a position, the file was put to the vote in plenary on 24 April 2024, in order to close Parliament's first reading. The text, as amended in September 2023, was adopted with 452 votes in favour, 43 votes against and 83 abstentions.

The Council adopted its negotiating mandate on 19 June 2024.

Javi Lopez (S&D, Spain) was appointed rapporteur for the file on 12 September. The opening trilogue took place on 28 January 2025.

References:

• EP legislative observatory, Procedure file on Surface water and groundwater pollutants, 2022/0344(COD)
• Council, Surface water and groundwater: Council agrees negotiating mandate to update list of pollutants, press release, 19 June 2024
• European Commission, Proposal for a directive amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration and Directive 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy, COM(2022) 540
• European Commission, State of the Union 2021: Letter of intent, 15 September 2021
• European Commission, Commission work programme 2022. Making Europe stronger together, 19 October 2021
• European Commission, Inception impact assessment on Integrated water management – revised lists of surface and groundwater pollutants, 23 October 2020
• European Commission, Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All. EU Action Plan: 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil', COM(2021) 400
• European Parliament, Resolution of 17 December 2020 on the implementation of the EU water legislation, 2020/2613(RSP)
• European Economic and Social Committee, Opinion, Integrated water management – revised lists of surface and groundwater pollutants, NAT/878

Further reading:

• European Parliament, EPRS, Pollutants in EU waters: Update of chemical substances listed for control, Briefing, December 2024
• European Parliament, EPRS, Revising the standards for surface water and groundwater pollutants, Initial appraisal of the Commission impact assessment, March 2023

Author: Vivienne Halleux, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu