Water pollution, green light for stricter rules to protect European waters
Lists of pollutants to be monitored have been updated to include Pfas, microplastics, pesticides and medicines
From the European Parliament green light for new regulatory measures aimed at curbing pollution of surface water and groundwater and improving EU water quality standards.
New substances to be monitored
Specifically, the go-ahead has unlocked the updating of the lists of pollutants that are to be monitored and kept under control: Pfas (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, chemical components that are difficult to degrade over time), medicines (e.g. painkillers), industrial products and pesticides have been added to the list. And the pollutants already put on the index? Clearly they will not be sidelined, on the contrary: they will be subject to even more stringent monitoring.
The new measures also turn the spotlight on substances that have raised quite a few concerns in recent times: the most immediate reference is, of course, to microplastics and antimicrobial resistance indicators.
According to the rules of the second reading, the President announced in plenary that the law had been officially adopted, following the alignment reached last year between the co-legislators and the text already approved by the European Council.
The Genealogy of the Law
In line with the ambitious goal of zero pollution at the heart of the European green deal, the EU Commission - in October 2022 - put forward a proposal to revise the lists of pollutants to be monitored in surface water and groundwater in order to safeguard the so-called 'freshwater bodies', i.e. rivers, lakes, ponds, glaciers and aquifers.
