The Water Framework Directive aims to ensure that all surface water and groundwater bodies achieve “good status”. From the 26th of July until the 1st of November, the European Commission opened a public consultation to review the list of pollutants affecting surface- and groundwaters and the corresponding regulatory standards in the Priority Substances Directive (PSD) and Groundwater Directive (GWD).
Within this framework and despite improvements in legislation, governance and investment, European waters continue to face a wide range of significant pressures, including pollution, alterations to their surrounding physical landscape, water scarcity and floods with a direct impact on the environment and biodiversity. To tackle these pressures, reduce substances in surface and groundwater bodies and move towards a Water-Smart-Society, WE has identified challenges in which immediate action would lead to substantial benefits for society and health, environment, and economy.
The importance of these challenges and starting point to address them were stressed in Water Europe answers to the public consultation and concluded in a position paper. Download it here.
