Activities of Mireille D'ORNANO related to 2017/0332(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Quality of water intended for human consumption (debate) FR
Amendments (6)
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Directive 98/83/EC set the legal framework to protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water intended for human consumption by ensuring that it is wholesome and clean. This Directive should pursue the same objective. To that end, it is necessary to lay down at Union level the minimum requirements with which water intended for that purpose must comply. Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that water intended for human consumption is free from any micro- organisms and parasites and from substances which, in certain cases, constitute a potential danger to human health, such as pesticides, endocrine disruptors or microplastics, and that it meets those minimum requirements.
Amendment 136 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) Following the conclusion of the European citizens' initiative on the right to water (Right2Water)71, a Union-wide public consultation was launched and a Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT) Evaluation of Directive 98/83/EC was performed72. It became apparent from that exercise that certain provisions of Directive 98/83/EC needed to be updated. Four areas were identified as offering scope for improvement, namely the list of quality-based parametric values, the limited reliance on a risk-based approach, the imprecise provisions on consumer information even though citizens in the European Union are increasingly and legitimately demanding transparency, and the disparities between approval systems for materials in contact with water intended for human consumption. In addition, the European citizens' initiative on the right to water identified as a distinct problem the fact that part of the population, especially marginalised groups, has no access to water intended for human consumption, which is also a commitment under Sustainable Development Goal 6 of UN Agenda 2030. A final issue identified is the general lack of awareness of water leakages, which are driven by underinvestment in maintenance and renewal of the water infrastructure, as also pointed out in the European Court of Auditors' Special Report on water infrastructure73. _________________ 71 72COM(2014) 177 final COM(2014) 117 final 72 SWD(2016) 428 final SWD (2016) 428 final 73 Special rReport of the European Court of Auditors SRNo 12/2017: "Implementing the Drinking Water Directive: water quality and access to it improved in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, but investment needs remains substantial".
Amendment 178 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) The parametric values used to assess the quality of water intended for human consumption are to be complied with at the point where water intended for human consumption is made available to the appropriate user. However, the quality of water intended for human consumption can be influenced by the domestic distribution system, especially in old and complex installations in urban areas. The WHO notes that, in the Union, Legionella causes the highest health burden of all waterborne pathogens. It is transmitted by warm water systems through inhalation, for instance during showering. It is therefore clearly linked to the domestic distribution system. Since imposing a unilateral obligation to monitor all private and public premises for this pathogen would lead to unreasonably high costs, a domestic distribution risk assessment is therefore more suited to address this issue. In addition, the potential risks stemming from products and materials in contact with water intended for human consumption should also be considered in the domestic distribution risk assessment. The domestic distribution risk assessment should therefore include, inter alia, focusing monitoring on priority premises, assessing the risks stemming from the domestic distribution system and related products and materials, and verifying the performance of construction products in contact with water intended for human consumption on the basis of their declaration of performance in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council79. The information referred to in Articles 31 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council80 is also to be supplied together with the declaration of performance. On the basis of this assessment, Member States should take all necessary measures to ensure, inter alia, that appropriate control and management measures (e.g. in case of outbreaks) are in place, in line with the guidance of the WHO81, and that the migration from construction products does not endanger human health. However, without prejudice to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, where these measures would imply limits to the free movement of products and materials in the Union, these limits need to be duly justified and strictly proportionate, and not constitute a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member States. _________________ 79 Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC (OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 5). 80 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p. 1). 81 "Legionella and the prevention of Legionellosis", World Health Organisation, 2007, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_healt h/emerging/legionella.pdf
Amendment 183 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) Each Member State should ensure that monitoring programmes are established to check that water intended for human consumption meets the requirements of this Directive. It should be noted that some Member States have standards and monitoring programmes that are already more demanding than those required by this Directive. Most of the monitoring carried out for the purposes of this Directive is performed by water suppliers. A certain flexibility should be granted to water suppliers as regards the parameters they monitor for the purposes of the supply risk assessment. If a parameter is not detected, water suppliers should be able to decrease the monitoring frequency or stop monitoring that parameter altogether. The supply risk assessment should be applied to most parameters. However, a core list of parameters should always be monitored with a certain minimum frequency. This Directive mainly sets provisions on monitoring frequency for the purposes of compliance checks and only limited provisions on monitoring for operational purposes. Additional monitoring for operational purposes may be necessary to ensure the correct functioning of water treatment, at the discretion of water suppliers. In that regard, the water suppliers may refer to the WHO's Guidelines and Water Safety Plan Manual.
Amendment 204 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) The Commission, in its reply to the European citizens’ initiative ‘Right2Water’ in 201483, invited Member States to ensure access to a minimum water supply for all citizens, in accordance with the WHO recommendations. It also committed to continue to "improve access to safe drinking water […] for the whole population through environmental policies"84. This is in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 and the associated target to "achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all". The concept of equitable access covers a wide array of aspects such as availability (due for instance to geographic reasons, lack of infrastructure or the specific situation of certain parts of the populations), quality, acceptability, or financial affordability. Concerning affordability of water, it is important to recall that, when setting water tariffs in accordance with the principle of recovery of costs set out in Directive 2000/60/EC, Member States may have regard to the variation in the economic and social conditions of the population and may therefore adopt social tariffs or take measures safeguarding populations at a socio-economic disadvantage. This Directive deals, in particular, with the aspects of access to water which are related to quality and availability. To address those aspects, as part of the reply to the European citizens' initiative and to contribute to the implementation of Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights85 that states that "everyone has the right to access essential services of good quality, including water", Member States should be required to tackle the issue of access to water at national level whilst enjoying some discretion as to the exact type of measures to be implemented. This can be done through actions aimed, inter alia, at improving access to water intended for human consumption for all, for instance with freely accessible fountains in cities, and promoting its use by encouraging the free provision of water intended for human consumption in public buildings and restaurants. This objective will be all the easier to achieve when a serious and active policy has been put in place to tackle the growing presence of some pollutants, foremost among which are pesticides dangerous to health, the use of which is increasing despite health warnings. _________________ 83 COM(2014) 1177 final 84 COM (2014) 1177 final, p. 12. 85 Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights (2017/C 428/09) of 17 November 2017 (OJ C 428, 13.12.2017, p. 10).
Amendment 221 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) The 7<sup>th</sup>th Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’90, requires that the public have access to clear environmental information at national level. Directive 98/83/EC only provided for passive access to information, meaning that Member States merely had to ensure that information was available. Those provisions should therefore be replaced to ensure that up-to-date information is easily accessible, for instance on a website whose link should be actively distributed. It should be easy in this era of open data to meet this transparency requirement. The up- to-date information should not only include results from the monitoring programmes, but also additional information that the public may find useful, such as information on indicators (iron, hardness, minerals, etc.), which often influence consumers' perception of tap water. To that end, the indicator parameters of Directive 98/83/EC that did not provide health-related information should be replaced by on-line information on those parameters. For very large water suppliers, additional information on, inter alia, energy efficiency, management, governance, cost structure, and treatment applied, should also be available on-line. It is assumed that better consumer knowledge and improved transparency will contribute to increasing citizens' confidence in the water supplied to them. This in turn is expected to lead to increased use of tap water, thereby contributing to reduced plastic litter and greenhouse gas emissions, and a positive impact on climate change mitigation and the environment as a whole. _________________ 90 Decision No 1386/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’ (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 171).