What is the Commission proposing and why?
This will guarantee that tap water is safe for drinking throughout the EU.
2) A reduced risk for Member States and citizens.
The Commission has worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to revise the list of standards (parameters) that define safe drinking water.
How will consumers benefit from this proposal?
The revised rules will improve access to water and water quality as well as further reduce risks to health, by improving water treatment and quality monitoring.
It contains an obligation for Member States to improve access to safe drinking water for all and to ensure access to water especially for vulnerable and marginalised groups.
The proposal to revise the Drinking Water Directive reflects this principle with a new provision that requires Member States to improve access to water for all and ensure access to those belonging to vulnerable and marginalised groups.
Better access to and quality of drinking water, as well as increased transparency requirements obviously entail additional but moderate costs.
However, these will be offset by the positive health benefits for citizens and the possibility for Member States to subsidise a service of public interest, as well as the money saved through lower consumption of bottled water.

Questions and Answers on the revision of the Drinking Water Directive. Why is the Commission revising the Drinking Water Directive? The European Commission wants to continue to ensure the provision of high-quality drinking water in light of the latest scientific advice, and to help consumers access this water and find reliable information about its supply. Safe drinking water is essential for public health and well-being, and water contamination or shortages can have serious social and economic costs. The proposal is also a response to the successful European Citizens’ Initiative, ‘Right2Water’, which received the support of 1.6 million Europeans. What is the Commission proposing and why? There are four main new elements: 1) Improved standards for the safety of water. The list of standards will be updated and extended in line with the latest scientific knowledge and based on recommendations by the World Health Organisation. This will guarantee that tap water is safe for drinking throughout the EU. 2) A reduced risk for Member States and citizens. By applying a risk-based water safety assessment in the entire EU, authorities will be able to identify possible risks to water sources already at distribution level. It adds an additional layer of protection and at the same time better protects supply sources in the long term. 3) Obligation to improve access to water. People without or with limited access to water will benefit. Overall consumption of tap water – a cheap, safe and environmentally-friendly option – should increase. This will help consumers save money, and it is good for the environment, helping to reduce plastic waste entering our rivers and seas and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. 4) Increased transparency, including on water services. Thanks to new transparency rules consumers will get information online, in a user-friendly way, about the availability of water services in their local area. Empowered consumers are better placed to request good quality services at a fair price. In parallel, the Commission accelerated work on standardisation to ensure that construction products in the water sector across the EU’s internal market, such as pipes and tanks, do not pollute drinking water. What are the new standards to indicate the safety of water? The Commission has worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to revise the list of standards (parameters) that define safe drinking water. The new list includes 18 new or revised parameters to better protect against: pathogenic bacteria and viruses; naturally occurring but harmful substances like uranium or microcystins; emerging contaminants from industry like perfluorinated compounds; disinfection by-products or distribution impurities like chlorate, haloacetic acids, or bisphenol A. How will consumers benefit from this proposal? The revised rules will improve access to water and water quality as well as further reduce risks to health, by improving water treatment and quality monitoring. According to estimatesthe new measures would reduce potential health risks associated with drinking water from about 4% to below 1%. More transparency on water supply can compel providers to improve resource-efficiency. Consumers will have online access to information on precious nutrients present in their tap water, such…

BRUSSELS, Belguim – The European Union proposed Thursday giving millions of people in the 28-nation bloc better access to safe tap water and reduce water consumption via wasteful plastic bottles.
The legislation proposed by the European Commission, the EU executive, aims to make safe drinking water a citizen right in line with social rights adopted at a summit in Gothenburg, Sweden in November.
The commission was responding to a petition signed by 1.6 million people demanding better access to potable water, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said.
"Today we are therefore proposing to modernise our EU law, improving the quality of drinking water and increasing the access of citizens where it matters most," Timmermans added in a statement.
He said around 23 million among Europe’s more than 500 million people are not connected to a public water supply.
The proposals call for member countries to improve access for all people, especially for the vulnerable or marginalised, by setting up systems in public buildings and other public spaces.
They also call for providing information online and elsewhere about the quality and supply of drinking water in their living areas.
Lower consumption of bottled water can also help EU households save more than 600 million euros ($750 million) per year, the commission said.
There will also be reduced plastic waste if people have greater confidence in tap water and consume less bottled water, it added.
Britain’s Prince Charles and others held an EU-backed conference last year for drastic action to stop eight million tonnes of plastic waste polluting the world’s oceans annually.

BRUSSELS, Belguim – The European Union proposed Thursday giving millions of people in the 28-nation bloc better access to safe tap water and reduce water consumption via wasteful plastic bottles. The legislation proposed by the European Commission, the EU executive, aims to make safe drinking water a citizen right in line with social rights adopted at a summit in Gothenburg, Sweden in November. The commission was responding to a petition signed by 1.6 million people demanding better access to potable water, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said. “Today we are therefore proposing to modernise our…

Aqua Metrology Systems (AMS), the leader in real-time water quality, has recently completed the successful demonstration of a proof of concept for the treatment of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) at the City of Los Banos in California.
The SafeGuard H2O system developed by AMS offers an innovative approach to providing an economical and reliable remediation treatment for small and large water systems affected by contamination from Cr(VI), a known carcinogen.
The novel technology generates a stannous ion reagent in-situ via an electrolytic process and also features an online Cr(VI) monitoring analyzer to ensure remediation of Cr(VI) to below 10 ppb.
During the two-week evaluation period, the SafeGuard H2O system was demonstrated to be highly stable and efficient in generating targeted stannous reagent levels into the raw water stream to convert hexavalent chromium into its non-toxic trivalent form (Cr(III)).
“The demonstration site was visited by several engineering groups and potential water treatment partners that were impressed by the simplicity, effectiveness, and low capital/operating cost of the SafeGuard H2O system.
As a result, there is no shelf life of the reagent and operational costs are drastically reduced since shipping and handling of hazardous chemicals associated with other chemical treatment systems are entirely avoided.
The system also features built in online sensors to monitor influent water quality parameters and an online Cr(VI)/Total Cr/Tin monitoring system to continuously analyze components of interest in all critical process steps.
This results in a highly accurate process that also ensures reliable reagent dosing control through manipulation of site-specific process parameters since real time adjustments to process parameters can be made and then reported to the main control system.
We believe real-time water quality analysis is essential to environmental protection.
As a result, our technical solutions provide accurate and reliable data on water quality contaminants through continuous monitoring.

Revised European legislation proposed by the European Commission today will improve the quality of drinking water and access to it as well as provide better information to citizens.
In addition this proposal seeks to empower consumers ensuring that water suppliers provide consumers with clearer information on water consumption, on the cost structure as well as on the price per litre allowing a comparison with the price of bottled water.
Today we are therefore proposing to modernise our EU law, improving the quality of drinking water and increasing the access of citizens where it matters most.
Together we can and must protect the health and safety of our citizens."
Most people living in the EU enjoy very good access to high quality drinking water.
This results from long standing EU legislation protecting Europeans ensuring that they have access to high quality drinking water.
Another important change in the legislation will give the public easy, user-friendly – including online – access to information about the quality and supply of drinking water in their living area, improving confidence in tap water.
Better management of drinking water from Member States will avoid unnecessary loss of water and contribute to lowering the CO2 footprint.
The new risk-based approach to safety will help to carry out safety checks in a more targeted manner where risks are higher.
The revision of the Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC was included in the Commission’s 2017 Work Programme, as a direct follow up to the Right2Water European Citizens’ Initiative.

Once the state approves those plans, the project to extend City of Manteca water lines to the Nile Avenue campus in rural south Manteca can move forward.
Nile Garden switched to bottled water four years ago when tests showed that the water being pumped from a well no longer met newer federal standards for arsenic.
The previous standard was 50 parts per billion in terms of volume.
It has now been reduced to 10 parts per billion.
Arsenic occurs naturally.
Experts have said it would take arsenic levels “about 100 times” higher than what they are now to cause sickness.
Measure G work connected with modernization of existing classrooms and addressing health and safety needs has already been addressed.
Nile Garden will also have a multipurpose room added to address existing deficiencies and to serve growth.
Both campuses will have new classroom wings that are expected to contain 8 classrooms each and accommodate more than 200 additional students at each campus.
There are no nearby fire hydrants currently at the rural campus.

Cape Town – The Western Cape Government is finalising plans to keep schools open in areas most affected by the Province’s crippling drought.
Premier Helen Zille unveiled plans on Wednesday, 31 January 2018 to principals of schools dependent on the Western Cape Water Supply System.
Water sources; Water storage; Water transport, as required; Water reticulation at schools; and Water management.
Water sources The main water sources in the short term are: limited municipal water in certain; groundwater (from boreholes), recycled water; and sea water.
Recycled water Thirty-one schools are currently drawing recycled water from the City’s treated effluent water network, that covers many areas of the City.
Officials will work with the City to map schools to the network, to enable them to draw recycled water for their ablution facilities as well as for fire security.
The Western Cape Government will consider sea water in cases where schools cannot access borehole or recycled water for sewage purposes.
The WCED has tasked the Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) to install reticulation systems to connect all tanks as well as ground water supplies to the school facilities, and this work is well underway.
A key priority is to ensure that all schools dependent on the Western Cape Water Supply System have at least water storage facilities which are plumbed to the reticulation system of the school.
Officials will work with the City to map schools to pipelines carrying potable water to water collection points and key facilities such as hospitals.

Once the state approves those plans, the project to extend City of Manteca water lines to the Nile Avenue campus in rural south Manteca can move forward.
Nile Garden switched to bottled water four years ago when tests showed that the water being pumped from a well no longer met newer federal standards for arsenic.
The previous standard was 50 parts per billion in terms of volume.
It has now been reduced to 10 parts per billion.
Arsenic occurs naturally.
Experts have said it would take arsenic levels “about 100 times” higher than what they are now to cause sickness.
Measure G work connected with modernization of existing classrooms and addressing health and safety needs has already been addressed.
Nile Garden will also have a multipurpose room added to address existing deficiencies and to serve growth.
Both campuses will have new classroom wings that are expected to contain 8 classrooms each and accommodate more than 200 additional students at each campus.
There are no nearby fire hydrants currently at the rural campus.

This means that only 3.9 million Ghanaians have access to drinking water from an improved water source that is located on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination – the standard SDG requirement.
$11.3bn investment need in 8 years To address the situation and meet the water SDG, Ghana will have to invest over $11.3 billion ($11,352 million) from this year to 2030.
The JMP has been monitoring global progress since 1990 and is responsible for reporting on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets and indicators related to WASH. Current $114m annual investment inadequate With current sector funding at $114 million a year, this leaves a significant funding gap to achieve universal access.
Basic coverage short of SDG benchmarks To provide basic coverage for all by 2025 short of SDG requirements, as outlined in Ghana’s Water Sector Strategic Development Plan (2012-2025), requires a capital investment of $327 million a year between now and 2025.
Safely managed water – 7.3m (7,363,645) population The data reveals that over 7.3m (7,363,645) Ghanaians get their drinking water from an improved water source that is located on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.
Basic water – 13.9m (13,961,060) population In the same vein, 13.9m (13,961,060) Ghanaians receive drinking water from an improved source, where provided collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip, including queuing.
Surface water – 1.7m (1, 720, 014) population Ghanaians who get their drinking water directly from a river, dam, lake, pond, stream, canal or irrigation canal are 1.7m (1,720,014) in number.
GWCL begins rationing water The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has begun rationing water in most parts of the country as a result of the dry season, environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies by illegal miners.
The GWCL advised the public to immediately report all burst pipes and leakages to the nearest GWCL district offices, customer service centres, fault offices or via the GWCL customer application.
Oil companies in Ghana import water from Ivory Coast International oil companies in the Jubilee field have resorted to importing potable water from Cote d’Ivoire and Benin due to the inability of the Ghana Water Company (GWC) in the Western Region to meet water supply demands.