Meeting members
Carla Chiaretti from the Secretariat met with Utilitalia in Milan and presented EurEau’s position on the Drinking Water Directive at their ‘Proposal for a Directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption: contents and analysis’ conference held in Milan on the 16 April.

Oliver Loebel attended a joint meeting of the Water UK Drinking Water and Environment Advisory Groups and WaterUK’s representatives in EurEau. The discussion focussed on EurEau’s functioning and priorities as well as measures to ensure Water UK’s involvement in EurEau after Brexit.



The governance of water services in Europe
We are pleased to announce the publication of the report on ‘The governance of water services in Europe’. It will help readers – particularly EU decision makers - have a clear overview of the various types of management of water services across Europe. This practical guide gives a better understanding of the models, organisational structures, tasks and responsibilities of the players involved at the different levels of governance (EU, national, regional or local). You can read and download the report here.



EurEau’s new internet site
We are in the process of redeveloping the EurEau internet site, which will ‘go live’ in about a week or so.
The new sites will make it easier to find the information you are looking for



Investing in infrastructure
EU committee chair Klara Ramm penned a piece for EurActiv on why the EU should invest in our water infrastructure. You can read it here.



EU news
Drinking Water Directive
The European Commission adopted the draft revised DWD on 1 February. The Council of the EU has already met three times during the past two months and a policy debate by Ministers is scheduled for the Environment Council on 25 June.

On the European Parliament side, the consideration of the draft report by the Rapporteur, Michel Dantin, is planned for 7 June. To know more about the ENVI MEPs involved and the calendar in the ENVI Committee read the ‘EU matters blog’.

The ENVI Committee held an exchange of views with the European Commission on the implementation of the DWD currently in force, the REFIT exercise and the new legislative proposal. MEPs sent questions in advance and DG ENV’s newly appointed Director Veronica Manfredi answered on behalf of the Commission. The debate can be watched online here(starting at 1:30:00) and a verbatim report can be found here.



16 May: Intergroup meeting on the Drinking Water Directive
The working group on Agriculture and Water Management of the Intergroup on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Development of the European Parliament, will organise a meeting on the DWD on 16 May from 13.30 to 15.30. The meeting will be chaired by Michel Dantin MEP, rapporteur of the DWD for the EP, Dr Claudia Castell-Exner, Vice-President of EurEau, will be among the speakers. The event is fully booked (over 200 people). To join the waiting list, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..



Committee of the Regions opinion on the DWD
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) will deliver an opinion to the European Parliament and the Council on the DWD. The CoR Rapporteur is Mr Marc Weinmeister (DE/EPP). The ENVI Commission of the Committee of the Regions adopted a draft opinion on 12 April, reflecting many of the EurEau’s concerns. The Plenary of the Committee of the Regions will adopt its final opinion at the plenary session on 16-17 May.



Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE)
The ENVI Committee of the European Parliament held an exchange of views with the Commission on the PiE Strategy on 25 April. Many MEPs took the floor complaining about the delay in the process.



ECJ to decide on the deterioration clause for groundwater
The ECJ will rule on the meaning of the deterioration clause laid down in Art 4 (1) of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The German Federal Administrative Court referred a case (street planning) to the ECJ and asked how to apply the deterioration clause on behalf of the groundwater. This is new because other rulings applied the clause to surface water. The case could become important for all users of groundwater. Up to now, there is no case number.



Water reuse 
The Ad-hoc Task Group on water reuse met on 3 May in Brussels and the EurEau representative, Mr Pier Paolo Abis from EU2/Utilitalia attended. They were updated on the development of the legislative proposal on the minimum quality requirement for water reuse on irrigation in agriculture and the future steps to development of guidance documents for water reuse in agriculture and water reuse for aquifer recharge.



PSI Directive: Commission proposes extended scope
The European Commission published its proposal for the revised Directive on the Reuse of Public Sector Information. It sets minimum standards for commercial and non-commercial reuse of all types of information in all formats with certain exclusions (for example security-related). The new draft extends the application to ‘public undertakings’ and provides a wider definition of the sectors covered, but leaves some question marks.



Parliament report on the future of CAP
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will undergo a major reform initiated by the Commission proposals expected for late May 2018. The lead committee n the European Parliament - AGRI - submitted a stunning 1.300 amendments of which some reflect the proposals submitted by EurEau. The ENVI Committee also took into account some of EurEau’s amendments. The report, which will probably eliminate many of the water-related amendments, will be voted in plenary on 11 June.



Other news
Powerstep project publishes policy brief
EurEau participated in the EU-sponsored Powerstep project, which aimed to enhance the contribution of the waste water sector to the energy transition. The project summarised its political recommendations in the ‘POLICY BRIEF: Potential of the Wastewater Sector in the Energy Transition’. 


OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI) presents results
The OECD launched the WGI report Implementing the OECD Principles on Water Governance: Indicator Framework and Evolving Practices. It takes stock of the use and dissemination of the principles building on a survey across the 40+ countries and 140+ stakeholder groups who have endorsed them over the last three years, and proposes an indicator framework and a set of 50+ evolving practices to support their implementation. The ON-LINE MAP containing: 11 pilot test results of the water governance indicator framework and more than 50 watergovernance practices are also available.



Call to Register for the Western European EBC Foundation programme 
The EBC Foundation will hold its next benchmarking exercise for water and waste water utilities soon. You can register to the open call here.

The objective of the exercise is to assess performance, learn from each other and improve the services.



ESPC3 conference
ESPP will host its third European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference (ESPC3) on 11-13 June in Helsinki (FI). Most up to date programme can be found here: www.phosphorusplatform.eu/programmeESPC3. The registration is now open. You can register via https://events.eventos.fi/event/espc3/pages/registration. Anders Finnsonn will speak on behalf of Svenkst Vatten and Paula Lindell from FIWA will be rapporteur of a session on behalf of EurEau.



News from our members
All about the Dutch drinking water sector: Vewin publishes Drinking Water Statistics 2017
Customers have a very high opinion of Dutch drinking water; customer satisfaction with drinking water services is also high and drinking water bills in the Netherlands are low in comparison with neighbouring countries. Those are the standout conclusions from Drinking Water Statistics 2017, from source to tap, Vewin’s up-to-date and extensive statistical survey of the Dutch drinking water sector.



And All about Austria: Austria also publishes its statistics on drinking water
You can read all about Austria’s drinking water in their publication, now also available on our website.



Press at Water UK
The UK is garnering a lot of press interest nationally. You can read some of their press releases and coverage here, and here, and here.



Events
16 May – Intergroup meeting of the European Parliament on the Revision of the Drinking Water Directive (note: meeting will be in the Committee of the Regions). More…
16-17 May - The final public event of the EU-sponsored Powerstep project will take place during IFAT 2018. The project will close at the end of June 2018. EurEau participates in the project’s advisory board.
23-24 May – Conference of the Baltic water associations. This year’s conference will be hosted by the Lithuanian association. The EurEau president, Bruno Tisserand, is one of the speakers.
5-6 June – the Polish Association IGWP wil hold an International Fair and Conference - WOD-KAN - in Bydgoszcz.More…
11-12 June – third Third European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Helsinki. Deadline for proposing presentations on sustainable phosphorus policy or management actions, or of business or action success stories, for ESPC3 is 28th February. More information is here
11-13 June – Nordiwa - Nordic Drinking Water Conference in Oslo. More information – here.Remember to book hotel rooms before the deadline expires May 15th! An alternative is the Scandic Holberg Hotel, located just around the corner for the conference venue. Deadline for this hotel is May 10th. We strongly recommend you to book hotel room early, since June is a popular time to host events in Oslo.
26-31 August - World Water Week on the theme ‘Water, ecosystems and human development’.
16-21 September - IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2018, Tokyo
20-21 September - EU Water Conference will take place in Vienna. It will be a big event, co-organised by the European Commission and the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Draft programme and more details. EurEau will be invited to speak). Registration.
Conference Website. 
7 November - Young Water Leaders first global event, Berlin (InterContinental Hotel) http://www.ourfuturewater.com/berlin/