Drinking water directives revision

Jorgensen, C., Buchardt, B.H., Fawell, J., and Hydes, O. (2008) Preliminary draft final report on Establishment of a list of chemical parameters for the revision of the Drinking Water Directive, ENV.D.2/ ETU/2007/0077r. 

Directorate General Environment, 2008. Final Report on Establishment of a List of Chemical Parameters for the Revision of the Drinking Water Directive. Report ENV.D2/ETU/2007/ 0077r. September. Prepared by DHI Harsholm Denmark. 

In the EU Directive on Drinking Water Quality [35], 23 individual chemical parameters have specific limits together with two group limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides. In the case of pesticides, no individual pesticide is permitted to exceed 0.1 pgL , and pesticides in total should not exceed 0.5 xgL" . These limits were a compromise, the original demand having been for a zero limit for pesticides in drinking water, and these standards were set, in 1998, as the effective analytical detection limit. The revision of this directive and its application to pharmaceuticals is currently under discussion, although it seems unlikely that specific limits will be set for individual pharmaceuticals [36]. 

It sub-divides the porous and non-porous groups into Types A and B, depending on the levels of toxic substances (Table 12.6). (N.B., proposed revisions of the EU Directive for drinking water may reduce the limits for lead and arsenic in... 

N.B., proposed revisions of the EU Directive on drinking water may lead to pressure for these limits to be reduced - particularly for lead and arsenic. However, the implications of the above points should be determined before any reductions in these limits are accepted.)... 

In future revisions of the DWD, attention will be paid to an integrated approach to EU water legislation as the directive has to be brought into line with important developments such as the Water Framework Directive and the European Acceptance Scheme (imder development) for materials in contact with drinking water. 

During 2007, the Commission decided to pursue revision of the 1998 Directive to accommodate concepmal and other requirements for effective implementation of EU drinking water protections. Toward that end, it sought WHO s preparation of WHO—Europe s support document, issued in October 2007 (see above WHO, 2007). In addition, it commissioned a detailed study on a list of chemical parameters for directive revision, with a final report released in September 2008 (DG Env/DHl, 2008). This report recommended retaining the 10 p,g Pb/1 standard, measured at the tap, but noted that four member states were having compliance problems, and there were problems in terms of lead connections and monitoring. 

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