Ensuring all citizens have access to safe drinking water has been a priority for the EU for decades.
It’s crucial for public health and wellbeing, and shortages or contamination can lead to serious social, health and economic problems.
The EU believes that high quality drinking water should be guaranteed for all consumers, which is why it’s one of the main principles included in the European Pillar of Social Rights.
In light of this, the commission has announced its plans to revise legislation to improve the Drinking Water Directive.
Thanks to current legislation, the majority of EU citizens already have very good access to high quality drinking water.
We have heard and heeded their call and carried out a thorough analysis of our existing legislation.
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.
Ensuring a high level of health protection is crucial, and the EU strives towards making sure that water quality is controlled and monitored based on the latest scientific evidence.
Among the changes are rules that will require all member states to improve access for all their citizens, and especially for vulnerable and marginalized groups in society, who currently have more limited access than the general population.
It’s been predicted that these measures would reduce the potential health risks associated with drinking water from 4% to less than 1%.

Ensuring all citizens have access to safe drinking water has been a priority for the EU for decades. It’s crucial for public health and wellbeing, and shortages or contamination can lead to serious social, health and economic problems. The EU believes that high quality drinking water should be guaranteed for all consumers, which is why it’s one of the main principles included in the European Pillar of Social Rights. It’s strongly agreed that all consumers should have access to both safe water and reliable information about its supply. In light of this, the commission has announced its plans to revise legislation to improve the Drinking Water Directive. To support this cause, the European Citizens’ Initiative have gather over 1.6 million signatures as part of the “Right2Water” campaign, which was introduced to improve access for all Europeans. Thanks to current legislation, the majority of EU citizens already have very good access to high quality drinking water. The last 30 years…

Policy & Legislation: Water Frameworks Directive.
In 2012 for example, 25,524 European citizens aged 15 and above were interviewed by telephone , at the request of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment to gauge public opinion on issues relating to water conservation and to establish whether awareness of water issues had improved over time (WWW1).
The Water Frameworks Directive is unique in that it establishes a framework for the protection of all waters and their dependent wildlife/habitats under one piece of environmental legislation (WWW3).
The Water Frameworks Directive aims to : protect/enhance all waters (surface, ground and coastal waters) achieve “good status” for all waters by December 2015 manage water bodies based on river basins (or catchments) involve the public streamline legislation The Birds, Habitats, and Nitrates Directives, along with regulations on drinking water, bathing waters, and urban waste are all key factors within the Water Frameworks Directive, as well as the Marine Strategy Frameworks Directive.
A major requirement of Member States within the Water Frameworks Directive is the preparation of River Basin Management Plans, comprised of three, five year planning cycles.
Ireland is currently within the second of these planning cycles.
1st Cycle River Basin Management Plans: 2009-2014 2nd Cycle River Basin Management Plans: 2015-2021 These plans are laid out with the goal of achieving Good Ecological Status of all waters.
Ireland will begin its second cycle in 2017, but is currently 2 years behind schedule and so the next cycle will last 4 years rather than 5.
Mr. Simon Coveney T.D.
Additionally, 73% of Irish rivers have been classified as “unpolluted” as of the last cycle, which is comparatively better than that of most other European countries.

My neighbour spread slurry and ruined the road – what can I do?.
Our resident solicitor tackles the issue of when it’s OK to spread slurry Dear Karen, my neighbour spread slurry on St Stephen’s Day.
It is for the Local Authority to take action under these air pollution regulations and you can certainly lodge a complaint with them.
Local Authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency have had successful prosecutions in relation to agricultural water pollution.
Roads Spreading of slurry from the road into fields is illegal.
The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government is the department with responsibility for the implementation the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014, commonly known as the Nitrates Regulations.
Article 18 (2) (4) (d) of the Nitrates Regulations prohibits the application to land of organic fertilisers from a road adjacent to the land.
In 2011, Cork County Council threatened to enforce The 1993 Roads Act (Section 73) against farmers whose animal manure was left on roadways.
The Farmers Farmers have to consider a large number of factors when spreading slurry.
Farmers can also incur severe penalties in their farm payments should they be caught spreading slurry during the closed period.

State Water Board adopts climate change resolution.
From the State Water Resources Control Board: Today the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a resolution requiring a proactive approach to climate change in all Board actions, including drinking water regulation, water quality protection, and financial assistance.
We can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect our infrastructure and our ecosystems,” said Spivy-Weber.
Since that time, the Brown administration developed the California Water Action Plan, a blueprint for achieving more sustainable water management by improving water supply reliability, restoring important wildlife and habitat, and making the state’s water systems and environment more resilient.
Since 2007, the State and Regional Water Boards have taken a variety of actions to respond to climate change impacts.
The resolution also requires State Water Board staff to use current models and data to inform Board actions.
To increase regulatory consistency, the resolution also requires staff to use climate change policy guidance from other agencies.
Additional Climate Change and Drought Resources For more information on the state’s effort to combat and adapt to climate change, visit the climate change portal here.
To follow the state and regional water board efforts on this, visit the climate change page here.
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