Our Publications

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) established a framework of environmental liability based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle, to prevent and remedy damage to land, water (surface, ground, transitional, coastal and marine waters), and biodiversity (species and natural habitats protected by the Birds and Habitats Directives).

Making operators financially liable for preventing and remedying environmental damage is intended to induce them to develop practices that minimise the risk that their activities will cause such damage.

In 2016, the European Commission published the first evaluation of the ELD. The Commission is now carrying out the second such evaluation. The evaluation will examine the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added-value of the ELD.

Our water service providers deliver day and night. Every time you need safe and clean tap water for drinking, hygiene and sanitation, all you have to do is open a tap.

These same service providers conduct used water away from our homes and businesses to treat it before it is returned to the environment, recycling the valuable nutrients along the way and helping to keep us healthy.

All too often these privileges are taken for granted. Understanding the value of our water services is investing in our future and the future of the next generations. Water gives us life. Awareness of the value of water services will ensure that they are effective, efficient, resilient, sustainable and affordable for all.

This briefing note describes the various pathways PFAS can take to accumulate in air, soil and plants. It identifies the main contributors of PFAS in waste water and how PFAS can end up in sewage sludge. We demonstrate how only a full PFAS ban can allow for the inclusion of sewage sludge in the circular economy through agricultural application and incineration while encompassing the nutrient recycling potential.

In the context of the ‘‘European Green Deal”, the European Commission adopted a comprehensive Farm to Fork Strategy[1], which recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet and aims to address comprehensively the challenges of sustainable food systems. 

The current geopolitical situation and the objective to transition to a climate-neutral society by 2050, make it urgent to reuse the renewable and continuous supply of resources and energy which pass through our waste water systems. Waste water contains many valuable resources, most notably nutrients for fertilisers (nitrogen and phosphorus), water and energy. These valuable resources can be recovered and reused, making a significant contribution to the circular economy. 

A robust EU Strategy can put in place legislation that will protect our water resources 

It was another busy year for EurEau, with drinking water, PFAS, plastics, waste water, taxonomy and innovation high on our agenda. Read about our work in our annual report. 

There is a process ongoing in the EU to introduce a group ban on all PFAS – this will cover at least 4700 different variants. This report from Svenskt Vatten concludes with proposals for some measures that they believe will be crucial to addressing the PFAS problem in future. Upstream work is the key, that is to say ensuring that PFAS does not end up in our sewage systems, in soil and water. The only way to achieve this is to ban PFAS.