European regulation

European Union directives

The European Union’s environmental policy was launched in in 1972, and water was one of the first fields of intervention for the European Community: the first Directive in this field dates back to 1975 and addressed the quality of drinking water.

To date, more than 20 European Directives more or less directly relate to the water cycle (water for human consumption, the water resource, natural environments: underground or surface fresh waters, marine water, estuary water). Only the main directives are presented here.

A distinction can be made between 2 approaches to the production of Community legislation on water:
 

The usage approach

 “Bathing water” directive

Directive 76-160-EEC dated 08/12/75

This directive relates to the quality of coastal or inland bathing waters (rivers, lakes and other stretches of water).

It sets the thresholds for the microbiological quality of bathing water and imposes provisions relating to public information in the event of temporary degradation of the water.


“Drinking water” Directive

Directive 98/83/EC relating to the quality of water distributed for human consumption

The new “drinking water” directive increases the requirements with respect to several parameters (turbidity, chlorites, arsenic, volatile organohalogens, nickel) and in particular on lead (25 µg/L at the end of 2003 and 10 µg/L at the end of 2013). This obliges utility services to replace all existing lead pipes in the long term. It also increases information requirements on the quality of water supplied.

The "environment" approach

Many sectoral directives have been voted since the beginning of the 1970s.

Most of these will gradually be repealed with the implementation of the “framework directive”, an integral text voted in 2000.


The environmental approach

Many sectoral directives have been voted since the beginning of the Seventies.

Most of them will gradually be repealed with the implementation of the “framework directive”, an integral text voted in 2000.

Directive on the quality of fresh water for fish life

Directive 78-659-EEC dated 18/07/78

This directive applies to the protection or improvement of water to make it suitable for fish.

Directive on the quality required of shellfish water

Directive 79-923-EEC dated 30/10/79

This directive applies to the protection or improvement of water to make it suitable for shellfish

“Urban wastewater treatment” Directive

Directive 91-271-EEC dated 21/05/91

The directive on urban wastewater treatment introduced several main categories of obligations:

• that of effective collection and secondary treatment in conurbations of more than 2,000 population equivalents (pe.), with a timeframe from 1998 to 2005,
• that of delimiting “sensitive areas” at the national level, in which the treatment of nitrogen and/or phosphorus are necessary,
• that of requiring a satisfactory level of reliability of the sanitation systems and the obligation to monitor these systems,
• finally, the possibility of using non-collective sanitation “when the installation of a collection system is not justified, either because it would not be of interest for the environment, or because its cost would be excessive”, provided that the system ensures “an identical level of environmental protection”.

“Nitrates” directive

Directive 91-676-EEC dated 12/12/1991

This directive, designed to protect water resources, requires local authorities to define “vulnerable areas” in which codes of good agricultural practices are to be implemented.


“Framework directive”

Directive 2000-60-EC dated 22/12/2000

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC establishes a framework for a Community policy on water and supplements the European directives already in effect… to find out more

The French Law on Water and Aquatic Environments adopted in September 2006 is designed to achieve the ecological status targets  for  surface waters set for 2015 by the EU Water Framework Directive… to find out more