EurEau News
Speaking out
Martin Silič, EurEau Policy Advisor, participated in the stakeholders Workshop on resilience measures for critical entities under the CER Directive, organised by the Commission, which took place on 29 September 2025 in Brussels.
Sébastien Mouret, EurEau Policy Advisor, spoke at a European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) event on the Water Resilience Strategy, held on 7 October in Brussels.
Gari Villa-Landa, EurEau Policy Advisor, presented the role of sludge management in the wastewater sector’s contribution to a circular economy in the ZeroPM workshop ‘Achieving zero pollution of PM substances: removal through technical solutions’ held in Lesvos (Greece) on 7-8 October.
EurEau Secretary General, Oliver Loebel, addressed the CROVIK conference of our Croatian member HGVIK in Vodice on 8 October.
On 14 October, Oliver spoke at ChemSec’s From Sin to Win conference (Brussels) on PMT substances in water resources.
On 15 October, we co-hosted an event with MEP Dimitris Tsiodras and BDEW on Polluter Pays: Extended Producer Responsibility and the cost of cleaning wastewater. EurEau Vice President Brian Murphy moderated, while Sandra Olbrechts from BDEW and Gari presented. On the same day, Oliver undertook the keynote speech of the PFAS Updates 2025 Conference (Brussels).
Oliver spoke at the MEP event hosted by our Belgian member, Belgaqua, on 17 October (Brussels).
Javier Fernandez, chairperson of our Joint Working Group on Innovation, represented EurEau at the Advisory Board meeting of Water4All, in Malaga on 22 October.
Mariano Blanco, EurEau Executive Committee member and General Assembly representative for Spain, and Belen Ramos, EurEau JWG member, attended the SWA 2025 Sector Ministers Meeting in Madrid on 22-23 October.
EU news
Water legislation
UWWTD: who pays for cleaner water?
Micropollutants from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics are a growing threat to Europe’s water, and the EU’s recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive says it’s time for polluters to pay. Under the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, these industries must cover at least 80% of quaternary treatment costs – ensuring the burden doesn’t fall on households, SMEs or local water operators. Protecting clean, affordable water is a shared responsibility and those who create pollution must help pay to remove it. Read our views here.
We also co-signed a letter with FIEC calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to safeguard EPR. Together we urge the European Commission to uphold the EPR mechanism as adopted and avoid any revisions that could undermine the timely and effective implementation of the UWWTD.
UWWTD: visit to Flemish UWWTP in Aartselaar equipped with quaternary treatment
Aquafin, who are responsible for wastewater collection and treatment in Flanders, organised a visit to the UWWTP in Aartselaar, which is equipped with quaternary treatment. Several EurEau representatives attended, as well as some members of the team in the Commission working on the recast UWWTD.
UWWTD: meeting of the Commission Expert Group
The Commission’s Expert Group on the recast UWWTD met on 2 October in Brussels. We were represented by Paula Lindell, Jo Severyns and Gari Villa-Landa.
DWD: ECHA workshop on materials in contact with drinking water
In October 2025, ECHA held a workshop on the approval process for materials in contact with drinking water. It covered legal obligations and data requirements for notifications of intention and applications under the Drinking Water Directive, alongside IT tools, submission systems and available support material.
The recordings are available here.
Water and agriculture
Soil: final hurdle cleared for Soil Monitoring Directive
As a last step before publication in the Official Journal, on 23 October the European Parliament approved the compromise reached in trilogue on the Soil Monitoring Directive. The text, which creates a harmonised framework for the monitoring and assessment of soil health, survived a last-ditch attempt by some MEPs to reject it altogether. Member States will now have three years to transpose it into national law.
We support the Soil Monitoring Directive as an important step towards improving the health of European soils, which play a central role in the water cycle. Although the final compromise left out many of the initial proposal’s positive elements, it will establish a sound scientific basis for Member States’ actions to improve soil health.
Fertilising Products Regulation: evaluation
We shared our feedback to the public consultation and call for evidence for the evaluation of the FPR. The next Commission FPR Expert Group is meeting 4-5 November.
Water and the environment
Chemicals: EU must ensure chemical transparency to deliver a clean Circular Economy
Together with 41 organisations from across Europe, we co-signed a letter, urging policymakers to uphold chemical transparency and traceability in products, as the EU prepares new legislation under the Circular Economy Act and Environmental Omnibus. We stress that the competitiveness of the Union depends on a clean and circular economy, where value chain actors are fully informed about the substances in products. The letter emphasise that transparency is not a burden but an essential enabler of innovation, resilience, and competitiveness.
REACH: EurEau calls for effective control-at-source
We adopted our recommendations for the forthcoming revision of the EU chemicals regulation REACH. The ongoing PFAS crisis and increasing pollution level in the aquatic environment mean that the current rules need strengthening.
In particular, we call for the classification of PMT substances as SVHC and the wider use of the generic risk assessment.
The publication of the Commission proposal is postponed to the beginning of next year amid a negative opinion from the Regulatory Scrutiny Board on the impact assessment. Given the current deregulation pressure, there is a real risk that the Commission will reduce safeguards that protect people and the environment.
You can read our recommendations here.
PFAS: EurEau welcomes REACH restriction for PFAS in fire-fighting foams
The European Commission finally published the REACH restriction for the use of PFAS in fire-fighting foams by amending annex XVII of this Regulation. It will lead to a gradual ban of ‘forever chemicals’ in this application. The text includes transition periods of up to 10 years for certain extreme fires. Fire-fighting foams are leading to massive contaminations of drinking water resources close to fire drill sites such as airports or military sites across Europe. In the past, this led to the exposure of consumers to high PFAS levels in their drinking water in a number of locations. Our reaction is here.
PFAS: ECHA restriction proposal slowly progressing
The final ECHA universal PFAS proposal is expected for the end of 2026, preceded by a 60-day public consultation on socio-economic aspects in March/April 2026. According to the current – weakened – draft restriction, we must expect more than 800,000 tonnes of PFAS emissions over the next 30 years if this proposal is adopted by Member States. This represents an 83% reduction compared to business as usual.
The Commission stated that they were already working on their own restriction proposal based on the ECHA work. They are likely to ban consumer uses quickly. Industrial uses would only be ended if substitutes exist. In the absence of alternatives, the Commission would propose time-limited derogations.
Single-use plastics: Commission guidance extends EPR to wastewater infrastructure
The Commission has published its non-binding Guidelines laying down criteria on the costs of cleaning up litter in accordance with Article 8(4) of the Single Use Plastics Directive.
EurEau welcomes the inclusion in the definition of ‘litter clean-up costs’ the cleaning and removing of SUP products from wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure, and where necessary carrying out maintenance activities to unblock the infrastructure. A 2018 EurEau survey estimated these costs at more than €900 million (including the UK). So far, wastewater operators have to shoulder the bill.
Water Scarcity and Drought
The Commission’s Working Group on Water Scarcity and Drought will meet 29-30 October in Brussels. EurEau will be represented by Dominique Gâtel and Gari Villa-Landa.
Water as an essential service
Civil protection: EurEau calls for the inclusion of water services in EU support mechanism
The EU co-legislators are currently developing their position on the Commission proposal for a Regulation on the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and Union support for health emergency preparedness and response.
We call for the inclusion of water operators in the support mechanism given the role of crisis-resilient water services for effective health emergency preparedness and response. Existing mechanisms such as those established by the Critical Entities Resilience Directive and the NIS2 Directive should not be duplicated.
Health crisis: water services as fundamental components of Europe’s health security architecture
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the Union Prevention, Preparedness and Response Plan for Health Crises.
We call for the recognition of drinking water supply and wastewater management as fundamental components of Europe’s health security architecture. Water services are essential to public health as well as a fundamental component of functioning healthcare systems. Ensuring these services are crisis-resilient is therefore indispensable for an effective and coordinated EU approach to health emergencies. Our feedback to the call for evidence is available here.
Next MFF: EurEau feedback to the Commission draft regulation on the National and Regional Partnership Plans
The Commission adopted a draft regulation on funding for cohesion, agriculture, prosperity and security on 16 July 2025. EurEau welcomes the draft act and suggests further improvements to help ensure a future-proof water sector is supported within the next 7-year financing cycle.
We call for the explicit inclusion of water services infrastructure among eligible funding priorities, for the mainstreaming of water-related investments across horizontal policy objectives (climate, environment, and security), for closing governance gaps by ensuring the participation of local and regional water service providers in decision-making, and for strengthened support to enhance funding absorption capacity. The complete feedback is available here.
Other news
In the Loop
In the Loop is a three-edition guide to get started with water recycling. It brings together lessons from pilot measures in the WaterMan project, insights into regional pathways, and tools that make the first steps easier – compiled in their Water Recycling Toolbox & Helpdesk.
Events
5-6 November 2025 – Amsterdam, the Netherlands – WWT’s Drinking Water Quality Europe Conference. More…
19-20 November 2025 – Bucharest, Romania – Expert Workshop: Designing Climate-Resilient Landscapes. Participation is by invitation only, with limited spaces available. Register here before 10 November, 2025
18-21 November 2025 – ENEG 2025, near Oporto, Portugal, under the theme Water and Governance: Bridges for the Future. More: ENEG 2025
8 December 2025 – Brussels and online – the Water Resilience Forum in the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee is open for registration.