EU countries agree to dilute rules on water quality standards

Published on 24/09/2025 - 13:20 GMT+2

EU subordinate states diluted h2o rules — enabling up to 10 times much chemic contamination arising from medicines to beryllium permitted successful groundwater compared with an archetypal European Commission connection — erstwhile the institutions finalised an update to the Water Framework Directive connected Tuesday.

Member states besides downgraded a connection to acceptable a wide headdress connected the magnitude of pharmaceuticals acceptable successful groundwater, narrowing the rules to screen circumstantial substances and leaving others unregulated.

The 2000 Water Framework Directive of groundwater, rivers and lakes, provides for supervision and monitoring of the ecology and chemic wellness of water.

A 2025 implementation report recovered lone 39.5% of aboveground waters, rivers, lakes and coastal waters to beryllium in “good ecological status”, and astir 26.8% are successful “good chemic status”.

For the Danish EU Council presidency, Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke, it was important to onslaught the close equilibrium betwixt ensuring effectual extortion of the aquatic situation without imposing unnecessary burdens connected the EU countries oregon hindering activities captious to society.

MEP Hildegard Bentele (Belgium), the European People's Party (EPP) group's pb negotiator connected the file, said the result was a liable and pragmatic bundle to amended h2o prime successful the EU.

"These regulations support h2o prime without overregulation – with technological integrity astatine the centre. We person focused connected the astir harmful substances and avoided unnecessary burdens, ever based connected the latest technological findings,” said Bentele.

Lawmaker Mihal Wiezik (Slovakia/Renew Europe) said the instrumentality was flawed: “If enactment is not taken now, the costs of restoring the prime presumption of h2o volition beryllium astronomic erstwhile compared to preventive measures,” helium told reporters

“This advancement [agreement aft 3 years of negotiations] is severely undermined by the excessive timelines subordinate states gave themselves to bounds contamination successful EU waters. This weakens the Water Framework Directive’s imaginable arsenic a instrumentality for prevention," said Sara Johansson, elder argumentation serviceman to h2o contamination astatine the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

The statement reached by the EU co-legislators volition present request to beryllium rubber-stamped by the European Parliament earlier being afloat adopted and entering into force.