EWA NEWSLETTER

Newsletter brought to you by the European Water Association

ISSUE 41

MARCH 2016

Article 1: Drinking Water Directive: Consultation - Review - Follow-up

EWA Newsletter issue 40 reported on developments following the European Citizens
Initiative Right2Water. To recall, an overall evaluation of the Drinking Water Directive was
set out in the Juncker Commissions' Working Plan "A new Start" 2015, COM(2014) 910 final
of 16 Dec. 2014, Annex 3, as part of the wider response to the European Citizens Initiative
Right2 Water.
Study Evaluation of the EU Drinking Water Directive1
The study commissioned by the European Commission DG Environment came (November
2015) to the following main conclusions on the five criteria (effectiveness, efficiency,
coherence, relevance and EU added value:
In general the Drinking Water Directive is still fit for purpose. The Directive
- is a relevant piece of legislation;
- protects the health of EU citizens;
- has efficient mechanisms to implement measures;
- provides added value at EU level.
At the same time certain elements meriting improvement have been addressed, e.g.
- Triannual reporting provisions of drinking water data by Member States to the
Commission: Whilst showing a high degree of formal compliance, the current provisions
are in substance and timing insufficient to perform a thorough compliance check and
adequately inform e.g. the European Parliament and citizens;
- Considerable differences between Member States regarding the quality of reporting.
Important in this context are the findings of the 2014 public consultation revealing that
consumer satisfaction on information is only 20%
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/water_drink_en.htm
The full text of the study is available at
http://www.safe2drink.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2015/12/Draft_Final_DWD_Evaluation_Report.pdf
Benchmarking in the drinking water sector
2014/2015 saw meetings on benchmarking in the drinking water sector; in summary they
addressed they discussed

By consultancies Ecorys, Alterra, ACTeon, Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern
Europe REC and KWR Watercycle Research Institute

EWA Newsletter March 2016

Future initiatives on benchmarking (such as development of approaches how to involve

small and medium-size water utilities currently not integrated into regional or national
benchmarking processes;

Elaboration of best practices of the scope of benchmarking (whilst confirming the

Commission's position not to envisage an own initiative on (cross-country)
benchmarking, but to encourage wider use of this instrument at national and regional
level;

Affordability of water services;

Transparency and access by consumers / citizens to information;

Access to safe drinking water as a right for citizens and an obligation for Member States;

Reporting: to meeting participants it appeared evident not least from the 2014
Commission Synthesis Report, and confirmed by the 2014 public consultation, that the
current reporting system is not suited to provide practical information to citizens and
consumers: the current provisions result in drinking water quality data being published
which are partly almost five years old. They can therefore inter alia be an instrument on
trends analysis, but without doubt not a general citizens' and consumers' information
tool.

A comprehensive report on the 2014/2015 benchmarking meetings is available at

https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/4fa04ec0-2b16-409a-b5b1edbb6ffd6287/Benchmarking%20Report%202014-2015%20FINAL.pdf

EWA Newsletter March 2016