E - Water Reuse
One third of the EU territory is now faced to water scarcity and the negative impacts of the climate change will increase this problem. The overall socio-economic and ecological impacts due to the drought are becoming very high. The drought of this last summer illustrate the gravity of this unsustainable situation. Water reuse is one of the ways to safeguard the resource in a circular economy framework. Some Member states already support water reuse for agricultural irrigation. Reuse of treated waste water could be “a reliable alternative water supply” in particular for this purpose in compliance with high safety standards. For the Commission, such solution “would avoid more than 5% of direct abstraction from water bodies and groundwater, resulting in a more than 5% reduction of water stress overall’. Or the different practices of water reuse are widely divergent across Member States and six Member States have adopted requirements (legislative or non- regulatory standards) on water reuse (Cyprus, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal). If water reuse is mentioned as one the possible supplementary measures (Annex VI, part B of the WFD), no specific conditions are provided; in the same way, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive only indicates that “treated waste water shall be reused whenever appropriate” and “Disposal routes shall minimize the adverse effects on the environment”.
Following the EU Action plan for a circular economy (2015 ), a legislative proposal on minimum requirements for water reuse for irrigation was presented by the Commission in 2018. The accelerated development of water reuse technologies in the single market is one of the reasons for choosing regulation rather than a directive. The regulation (UE) 2020/741
aims to ensure that treated urban waste water is safe for agricultural irrigation in compliance with a high level of protection of the environment and of human and health. It also contributes to the objectives of the WFD. The regulation provides that “Member may decide that it is not appropriate to reuse water for agricultural irrigation in one or more of its river basin districts or parts thereof” (art. 2) in consideration of different criteria: geographic and climatic conditions, pressures & status of water resources, pressures & “status of the surface water bodies in which treated urban waste water is discharged”, environmental and resources cost of reclaimed water and other water resource” (article 2).
A water reuse risk management plan “is prepared by the reclamation facility operator, other responsible parties and end-users, as appropriate” (article 5). The competent authority “shall ensure that a water reuse risk management plan is established” (article 5) for the purpose of producing, supplying and using reclaimed water (art 4). The key elements of risk management are set out in Annex II.
The regulation also provides that the production and supply of reclaimed water intended for agricultural irrigation are subject to a permit. Based on the water reuse risk management plan, the permit shall specify different element such as : - “the reclaimed water quality class or classes and the agricultural use, the conditions in relation to the minimum requirements for water quality and monitoring, any other conditions necessary to eliminate any acceptable risks to the environment and to human and animal health so that any risks are of an acceptable level, the point of compliance (…)” (article 6). The point of compliance is defined as the “point where a reclamation facility operator delivers reclaimed water to the next actor in the chain” (article 3). This identification of the point compliance is needed to “clarify where the responsibility of the reclamation facility operator ends and where the responsibility of the next actor in the chain starts” (whereas 15). Reclamation facility operators “should be primarily responsible for the quality of reclaimed water at the point of compliance” (whereas 19).
As states by the article 4 concerning the obligations of the reclamation facility operator, “beyond the point of compliance, the quality of the water shall no longer to be the responsibility of this operator”. The water reuse risk management plan has thus to identify “any additional requirements which are necessary after this point of compliance to ensure that the water reuse system is safe, including conditions related to distribution, storage and use where relevant and identify the parties responsible for meeting those requirements” (article 5).
Finally, the Regulation includes provisions on compliance check under the responsibility of the competent authority (article 7) and provisions on cooperation between Member States where water reuse is of cross-border relevance. (Article 8). It also provides that Member States ensure that “adequate and up-to date information on water reuse is available to the public” (article 10) and organise awareness-raising campaigns on safe water reuse for end-users (article 9).
In August 2022, the Commission has just published Guidelines to support the application of Regulation 2020/741 as provided for in article 11 of this regulation .