Groundwater watch list 7 October 2015, Brussels Elisa Vargas Amelin DG Environment, Unit C1 Elisa.VARGAS-AMELIN@ec.europa.eu

Background I Commission Directive 2014/80/EU amending Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC (to be transposed to national legislations until 11 July 2016) Recital 4 The need to obtain […] information on other substances posing a potential risk […]. A watch list for pollutants of groundwater should be established under the CIS (2) to increase the availability of monitoring data on [those] substances, and thereby facilitate the identification of substances, including emerging pollutants, for which groundwater quality standards or threshold values should be set. Reference: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.182.01.0052.01.ENG

Background II Commission Directive 2014/80/EU amending Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC. Explanatory Note. Text on recital 4. The Commission would like to ensure the improvement of data availability by the time of the next review, […] it proposes [voluntary and limited] mechanism to provide high-quality data on emerging pollutants […] for the purpose of risk assessment, following a similar approach to the Watch list […] of the Priority Substances Directive 2013/39/EU […]. The mechanism should focus on a limited number of substances and […] monitoring sites, but should provide representative data. Once [the] mechanism is more mature, an obligatory mechanism might be considered. No significant risk: substance removed/ If risk: substance could be considered for Annex I or Annex II to the GWD. On average, a substance to remain on the watch list for 2 to 4 years.

Groundwater watch list first steps Pilot data collection (pharmaceuticals) 2014-2015, group of volunteers led by DE: Agreement of first steps in Rome 2014. Set-up of group of volunteers (~ 15 members). Results presented in Brussels in April 2015. Data on pharmaceuticals from 10-12 MS. Preselection of 16 substances following criteria (sites, limit of quantification…). Assessment report to be provided by end 2015.

Groundwater watch list first steps Berne volunteers meeting 8-9 September 2015. Technical discussions: mainly on risk vs. potential risk, data to be collected (format, quantity, and quality control issues). Main decisions: Mandate, roadmap and index for concept paper. Continuation in parallel of pilot data collection on pharmaceuticals. Results presented to the WG Groundwater in Luxembourg: 5-6 October 2015. Broad support to continue! (LU, BE, UK, NL…)

What do we understand under “GW watch list”? All new/emerging pollutants Assistance from Member States monitoring Watch List Candidate list for GWD Annex 1 & 2

Process to set up a watch list Select Substances (procedure to be defined) Process to set up a watch list Column I (Collection of existing monitoring data) Set up a database for existing monitoring data (agreed format, including meta-data and supporting information, …) Summary and assessment Column II («Exposure assessment») Use data Persistence Mobility … Risk assessment (including toxicity, bioaccumulation, etc.) Prioritization > (Dynamic) Watch list Identification of research needs

Road map Summary report for SCG First draft available 26.10.15 Approval by the SCG 9./10.11.15 Report (>lead and potential contributors to be confirmed) Elaborated draft March/April 2016 Discussion in WG groundwater plenary April 2016 Finalization Autumn 2016 Continuation of pilot study on pharmaceuticals Beginning 2016 based on findings, feedback to report development Start of first data collection 2017 Candidates for watch list expected (ideally) end of 2017 Contribution to WFD/ GWD revision (ideally) 2019