Aqua publica europea – ceep – EurEau Workshop on the Drinking Water Directive 7 October 2015, Milan Evaluation of the DWD – the European Commission perspective Dr. Claudia Castell-Exner, member EU commission 1 “Drinking water”

~The European Union has a history of over 30 years of drinking water policy: ~DWD was introduced in 1980 and revised in ~The main pillars of the policy are to: ~Ensure that drinking water quality is controlled through standards based on the latest scientific evidence; ~Secure an efficient and effective monitoring, assessment and enforcement of drinking water quality; ~Provide the consumers with adequate, timely and appropriately information; ~Contribute to the broader EU water and health policy; 2

~The Commission performed in 2014 a public consultation on the quality of drinking water in the EU in order to assess the need for improvementspublic consultation Results call upon to improve its drinking water policy in certain areas such as – ~ensuring dw quality in remote and rural areas; ~better information for the public; ~improve monitoring systems; ~materials and products in contact with drinking water; ~review list of parameters and values to be met 3

To date, the Commission has made the following progress: 1)Revision of technical annexes: ~Commission worked in close consultation with Member States, experts and stakeholders on a revised text for ~ Annex II (Monitoring) and ~Annex III (Specification for the analysis of parameters) ~On 20 April 2015, the Drinking Water Committee gave a positive opinion to adapt these Annexes to scientific and technical progress. 4

~The new Annex II provides an option to perform the drinking water monitoring in around 100,000 water supply zones in Europe in a more flexible way with appropriate frequencies, provided a risk assessment is performed ensuring full protection of public health. 5

~It follows the principle of ‘hazard analysis and critical control point’ (HACCP) used already in food legislation, and the Water Safety Plan approach laid down in the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. ~Annexes to be published in autumn 2015 ~Transposition period of 24 months. 6

~Concerning radioactive substances in drinking water, in 2013 a Council Directive 2013/51/EURATOM was adopted, to be transposed by 28 November 2015, superseding the radioactivity requirements in Directive 98/83/EC.Council Directive 2013/51/EURATOM 7

To date, the Commission has made the following progress (ff.): 2) Evaluation: ~ Evaluation of the overall Directive has been included in the Commissions' Working Plan "A new Start" 2015, as part of the wider response to the European Citizens Initiative Right2Water. 8

~Objective of this ex-post evaluation under REFIT, the European Commission's Regulatory Fitness and Performance program, is to evaluate past and current performance. ~Overall aim of REFIT: ~to make EU law simpler, reduce costs … support growth and jobs. 9

2) Evaluation (ff): ~Evaluation and Fitness Check Roadmap - DWD: “High quality, safe drinking water is essential for public health and well being and an important asset for the economy. “ “Whilst not a commercial product like any other, water is economically important” “A good supply infrastructure is essential to provide high quality water services to citizens and an essential precondition for the development of economic activities.” 10

2) Evaluation (ff): ~External study has been launched. ~The evaluation study report providing further evidence is scheduled for end 2015 ~Stakeholder consultation: 26 May 2015 ~Interviews with MS, NGO’s, service providers etc. in June

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~It turns out to be very difficult to evaluate whether the articles of the DWD are efficient, effective and coherent ~Next stakeholder consultation: 8 December > presentation of the report -> opportunity to address options (what should be amended? What articles to keep …) from stakeholders point of view ~DG Env intends to launch a special study on materials and products in contact with drinking water (12 months duration, starting in 11/2015) 13

Back up slides 13/06/201414

15 Interview Guidelines stakeholders: Academics RELEVANCE 1.Are the overall objectives of the Directive (still) relevant for the protection of human health? 2.Which parameters and related parametric values are relevant for the protection of drinking water quality? 3.What is the relevance of the Directive‘s articles related to i) standard setting ii) monitoring iii) proactive and remedial measures and iv) communication? EFFECTIVENESS 1.What is the scope of the Directive and to what extent does it cover the needs of all EU citizens? 2.To what extent has the Directive achieved ist objectives? 3.What have been the (unintended) effects of the DWD beyond protecting human health?

16 EFFICIENCY 1.Is providing up-to-date information to consumers contributing to the achievement of the DWD? 2.To what extent are the costs involved wiht implementing the DWD justified given the changes which have been achieved? 3.What have been the factors influencing the efficiency of the DWD? 4.What has been the value of the risk based approach vs. monitoring at the tap? COHERENCE and EU value added 1.To what extent is the Directive coherent with other legislation in the same policy area? 2.To what extent is the Directive internally coherent? 3.What has been the EU added value of the Directive?