Executive summary

Society depends on the satisfactory and sustainable management of water. Historically, the primary purpose for water treatment was to reduce the likelihood of disease being transmitted to humans through water. Subsequent measures to address environmental concerns have broadened our expectations of what water and wastewater treatment should deliver.

This report considers three pieces of EU water legislation targeted at particular sectors: the Bathing Water Directive (BWD, 1976, 2006), the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD, 1991) and the Drinking Water Directive (DWD, 1998), together termed the “water industry directives”. Their objectives towards specific issues are considered in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000).  

Consideration of the older legislation in the context of WFD is worthwhile as the European Commission considers a review of water legislation. Meanwhile, the European citizen’s initiative ‘Right2Water’ (http://www.right2water.eu/) highlighted the level of interest in water issues. This report looks at areas in common between the water industry directives and notes where integration under the WFD can identify synergies and allow for improved decision-making.

The report builds upon reports required under the sectoral legislation, summaries of which are provided in the annex. Common features towards public health, environmental quality and informing the public are identified and considered in the context of the WFD, which, as a framework directive conceived after much of the sectoral legislation was adopted, bridges over many objectives of the water industry directives.

As a general overview of the water industry directives, compliance of UWWTD tends to be high among the countries that were Member States before 2004 (EU-15). The picture is more mixed among the newer Member States (EU-13), where compliance is high or increasing. Compliance rates of BWD and DWD are high in all countries. Reporting under the WFD in the second cycle of river basin management planning is under way and results should become available over 2017-18. Results of the first river basin management plans of the WFD in 2009 showed nutrient inputs from wastewater treatment plants and agriculture as one of the most significant reasons for waterbodies failing to be in good status.

An integrated approach of water related directives may help us deal better with current and future challenges, for example using the WFD river basin management planning process to identify those stakeholders with relevant interests, and to implement effective decision-making that takes into account the differing issues, costs and benefits. Integration may need more detailed understanding of inter-related issues than that needed to meet more linear obligations under sectoral legislation, such as infrastructure improvement. Authorities and water managers need to identify related pressures and impacts to help identify root causes and thereby facilitate more effective implementation.

Continuing challenges remain in dealing with diffuse pollution, through for example: surface run-off from urban and agricultural land and overflow from combined sewers. Such diffuse sources are likely to become more significant over time as point sources are tackled. Moreover, emerging risks include micropollutants, microplastics and antimicrobial resistance, where potential risks for both the environment and human health have been identified but the significance is as yet unclear.