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Other EU legislation on water protection concerning chemicals:

The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (EEC, 1991a) obliged Member States to collect and treat wastewater from households and small businesses, and aimed to reduce organic pollution as well as nitrate and phosphorus discharges from these sources. It ended the dumping of sewage sludge to surface waters in 1998, reducing a significant source of hazardous substances in water.
The Nitrates Directive (EEC, 1991b) regulated fertilizers and served to reduce nutrient inputs from agriculture, especially from intensive livestock forming. (Nitrate is not a pollutant covered in this report.)
The Drinking Water Directive (EEC, 1998) set special quality requirements for water for human consumption. It set concentration limits for a range of hazardous substances, including total “pesticides”, benzo(a)pyrene, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel and PAHs, in drinking water. Some of these limits were based on analytical detection limits at the time.
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (EC, 2008b) defined the target of achieving or maintaining a good environmental status of the EU’s marine waters by 2020. For pollution, it sets two qualitative descriptions of the marine environment when good environmental status has been achieved. Descriptor 8 sets out that concentrations of contaminants give no effects and Descriptor 9 that contaminants in seafood are below safe levels.

In addition to the water protection directives described above, there are various other polices and regulations that are not specifically aimed at protecting the environmental medium “water”, but are significant concerning chemicals in water:

The Industrial Emissions Directive (EC, 2010) sets out rules on integrated prevention and control of pollution arising from selected industrial activities.
The PRTR Regulation (EC, 2006b) regulated the reporting requirements and supply of data to the EU for a European Pollutant Register, providing access to information on pollution. Operators must report emissions of pollutants if those exceed specified thresholds.
The Plants Protection Products Regulation (EC, 2009a) set out rules for the authorisation of plant protection products and their marketing, use and control.
The Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (EC, 2009b) aims at reducing the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment, and promoting the use of integrated pest management and alternatives such as non-chemical approaches.
The Biocide Regulation on the marketing and use of biocide products (EU, 2012).
The Sewage Sludge Directive (EEC, 1986) regulated the use of sewage sludge in agriculture to prevent harmful effects.
The 7th Environment Action Plan (EU, 2013a) set the objective that by 2020, use of plant protection products should not have any harmful effects on human health or unacceptable influence on the environment, and such products should be used sustainably.
The Medicinal Products Regulation (EC, 2004) laid down Community procedures for the authorisation, supervision and pharmacovigilance of medicinal products for human and veterinary use.
REACH (EC, 2007) addressed production and use of chemical substances and regulates the assessment of their impacts on human health and the environment.
The Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP) for chemicals substances and mixtures complemented REACH (EC, 2008c).
The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (EC, 2001) defined, that for large programmes, environmental impact assessment needs to be applied at an early stage of planning with a view to promoting sustainable development.  
The basis for environmental impact assessment (EIA) under European Community law provided the EIA Directive (EU, 2011). It prescribed the individual process stages of EIA and the project types for which an EIA must be carried out.
Regarding facilities that handle substances dangerous to water, an important part is also played by the EU Directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (EEC, 1982), the Construction Products Directive (EC, 1989) and the standardisation procedure under CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation).

EEA member countries which are not members of the EU with environment and water law comparable to those with the EU include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

In addition, international agreements exist to limit the harm caused by particular chemicals:

The Stockholm POPs Convention[3], effective from May 2004, aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as several polybrominated diphenylethers and several hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (including lindane), which are addressed later in this report.
The Minamata Convention[4] on mercury came into force in 2017, and is designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River[5] is a collaboration of 14 countries. It aims to promote and coordinate sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, improvement and rational use of waters for the benefit of the Danube River Basin countries and their people.
The Convention on the Protection of the Rhine[6] is a cooperation between the 5 countries bordering the Rhine river, aiming at the preservation, improvement and sustainable development of the ecosystem.
The International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River[7] aims to promote the use of water, achieve the most natural ecosystem possible and decrease the burden on the North Sea.

This long list demonstrates the critical role that water plays in the environment and human health.

[1] http:www.solutions-project.eu/project/
[2] While introducing this comprehensive concept, the WFD repealed the former Dangerous Substances Directive (EC, 2006a).
[3] http://www.pops.int/ (31/03/2018)
[4] http://www.mercuryconvention.org/ (31/03/2018)
[5] https://www.icpdr.org/main/ (28/082018)
[6] https://www.iksr.org/en/international-cooperation/legal-basis/convention/  (28/08/2018)  
[7] https://www.ikse-mkol.org/en/ikse/fokus-2015/  (28/082018)

Previous comments

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:44:58

    DE-NW:

    'Other EU legislation on water protection concerning chemicals:'

    Should the Groundwater Directive also be mentioned?

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:46:00

    DE-BB:

    'The Nitrates Directive (EEC, 1991b) regulated fertilizers and served to reduce nutrient inputs from agriculture, especially from intensive livestock forming.'

    Typo : should be farming.

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:46:04

    DE-BB:

    'The Nitrates Directive (EEC, 1991b) regulated fertilizers and served to reduce nutrient inputs from agriculture, especially from intensive livestock forming.'

    Typo : should be farming.

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:46:07

    DE-BB:

    'The Nitrates Directive (EEC, 1991b) regulated fertilizers and served to reduce nutrient inputs from agriculture, especially from intensive livestock forming.'

    Typo : should be farming.

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:46:09

    DE-BB:

    'The Nitrates Directive (EEC, 1991b) regulated fertilizers and served to reduce nutrient inputs from agriculture, especially from intensive livestock forming.'

    Typo : should be farming.

  • sommelin (Linda Sommer) 26 Sep 2018 09:47:14

    DE-SH:

    'EEA member countries which are not members of the EU with environment and water law comparable to those with the EU include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.'

    Sentence seems not complete; it is unclear what is the content of the sentence should be.

  • hatfisim (Simon Hatfield) 05 Oct 2018 11:03:02

    P10, other EU legislation: Minor point - “below safe levels” is non-sensical. Rephrase as “at safe levels” or “below thresholds linked to potential effects”.

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