EurEau news
EurEau Annual report 2017

The Annual Report for 2017 is now available online, detailing a lot of our work last year. You can read it here.

EurEau at the Brasilia World Water Forum 8

EurEau was the lead coordinator for the session on ‘Promoting a circular economy by building an enabling environment’ on Wednesday 21 March. EurEau President Bruno Tisserand moderated the session, which had Dr Hakan Tropp from the OECD as a keynote speaker on the governance of circular economy in urban contexts.

The panellists were: Miriam Feilberg (DANVA), Hiromasa Yamashita(Japan Water Forum) Dr.Thomas Honer (Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company) and Paula Keohe (The San Francisco Water Utility).
Many thanks to our co-coorganisers: AEAS, UN-Habitat and CNI Brazil, as well as DANVA for their support in organising this session.

EU news
Drinking Water Directive: Council and Parliament develop positions

Following the publication of the draft revised DWD, Council almost immediately began discussions on a common position and the European Parliament nominated its (shadow) rapporteurs. According to current planning, the rapporteur, Michel Dantin, intends to present his report on 4 May. Amendments can be submitted by 13 June. The committee and plenary votes are scheduled for 10 September and 1 October, respectively.

Drinking Water Directive: Intergroup meeting planned

The working group on Agriculture and Water Management, of the Intergroup on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, chaired by MEP Michel Dantin, rapporteur of the DWD recast for the European Parliament, will organise a meeting on the DWD on 16 May from 13.30 to 15.30. EurEau will speak at it. To register for the event, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The meeting will be held in the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.

UWWT Directive: ENVI Committee discusses implementation

The European Commission presented the 9th report on the implementation of the UWWTD to the European Parliament in the ENVI committee. Most MEP questions related to the consideration of micropollutants, especially pharmaceuticals, in waste water and to the use of sewage sludge in the context of the circular economy.

PSI Directive: Commission proposal expected in April 2018

The Commission confirmed to EurEau that the draft revised Directive on the Reuse of Public Sector information should be published towards the end of April 2018. The Commission also stated that the two main concerns of EurEau members: the security of critical infrastructure and the relationship of the PSI Directive with sectoral legislation (i.e. drinking water directive) - were “carefully considered”.

ECI Directive: Evaluation roadmap published

DG HOME published its roadmap for the evaluation of the European Critical Infrastructure Directive (2008/114/EC). A public consultation will be launched at the same time as the evaluation process. The Commission will summarise its conclusions in a Staff Working Document due at the beginning of 2019. Water is not considered as a priority for inclusion in the directive.

EurEau responded to the Roadmap stressing the water infrastructure does not meet the criteria for a European critical infrastructure and should, therefore, stay outside the Directive’s scope.

Comments can be submitted here.

Cybersecurity: Commission plans certification

The Commission proposed a regulation on ENISA, the ‘EU Cybersecurity Agency’, and on Information and Communication Technology cybersecurity certification (‘’Cybersecurity Act’’) with the goal to set up an EU-wide approval scheme starting with hardware.

Innovation

An EU public consultation is open on ‘missions’ to include in the next EU R&D funding programme (FP9) which will follow on from Horizon2020. EurEau is preparing an answer and members are also encouraged to respond to it to propose missions related to water resource protection. Deadline is today, 3 April.

Plastics Strategy: ECHA launches restriction dossier for intentionally added microplastics

As announced in its Communication ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’, the Commission requested the ECHA to prepare a restriction proposal targeting intentionally added plastic particles in products for both professional and consumer uses, such as paint and detergents.

The ECHA launched a call for evidence  to identify uses, impacts and alternatives. Bertrand from the Secretariat participated in the preparatory Webinar held on 12 March. ECHA is looking for evidence that is related also to the consequences of the treatment for WWTP. EurEau members are encouraged to contribute.

Plastics Strategy: Parliament prepares Initiative Report

The European Parliament’s ENVI committee is preparing a reaction to the ‘European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’. We submitted proposals and held meetings with key MEPs with a view to raising awareness about the need to include the release of microplastics in extended producer responsibility schemes.

CAP: Commission to present revised package in May

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will undergo a major reform initiated by the Commission proposals expected for late May 2018. It should set goals (including environmental) and develop proven tools at the European level, but leave it to Member States to decide which these tools to use. The Commission should then monitor how goals have been met. As there are fears that the goals will be weak, WWF developed detailed proposals as to how they should be designed.

The draft reports presented by the AGRI Committee’s rapporteur and the ENVI Committee’s rapporteur do not take the protection of water resources into account.

Fertiliser Regulation

EurEau submitted its answer to the interim report of the STRUBIAS group to propose criteria for struvite and ash-based products that could be accepted in the future Fertiliser Regulation. It is important that the criteria allow water services to recover nutrients from sewage sludge.

European Network for Rural Development

On 22 March, Bertrand attended the 3rd meeting of the Thematic Group on Sustainable Management of Water and Soils. The meeting focused on the possible actions towards farmers to improve quality of soil and water and their possible funding through Rural Development Funds.

Other news
OECD Principles on Water Governance: EurEau signs stakeholder pledge

EurEau is one of the signatories of the Brasilia Multi-stakeholder Pledge to Implement the OECD Principles on Water Governance, which was developed jointly with the OECD WGI Steering Committee and published at the World Water Forum on 21 March 2018.

Other events

16-17 May - Ole Steensberg Øgelund (DK) represents EurEau on the EU-sponsored Powerstep project. The final public event will take place during IFAT 2018. The project will close at the end of June 2018.
10 April – EP breakfast on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment hosted by BDEW and MEP Tiemo Wölken (registration link https://tiemowlken.typeform.com/to/Db7KmM)
16 May – Intergroup meeting of the European Parliament on the Revision of the Drinking Water Directive (note: the meeting will be in the Committee of the regions). 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
26-31 August - World Water Week on the theme ‘Water, ecosystems and human development’
16-21 September - IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2018, Tokyo
7 November - Young Water Leaders first global Event, Berlin (InterContinental Hotel) http://www.ourfuturewater.com/berlin/

You can see a list of events happening around Europe here.
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You can keep up with all the EurEau news via our website, our EU matters blog and on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter feeds. For more events, visit our calendar.