Water is one of our most precious natural resources. It is vital for our survival and livelihood, our environment, our wildlife and our economy. Governments and authorities are now beginning to slowly acknowledge that Europe’s water environment is in an unacceptable state. Despite some progress made in the past decades, the majority of rivers, lakes and coastal waters have been degraded to the point where they cannot sustain functioning ecosystems or their vital services.
Ecosystems lack the space and water volume to function properly. Groundwater levels continue to fall and pollution levels remain high. New pollutants of concern incl. “forever pollutants” need yet to be tackled.
Industrial sources further have a significant contribution to water pollution, with the majority of EU’s surface water bodies failing to achieve good chemical status. The main reason for the failure of good chemical status in over 30% of water bodies is the atmospheric deposition of mercury [see here], with coal combustion being the main emission source to air in the EU [see here].
Whilst there is a requirement in the IED 1.0 to use water as efficiently as possible, the current BAT-Conclusions are scarce on this aspect also due to absence of pro-active and transparent reporting on this parameter by the operators. Despite being in 2025, there is still no publicly available data on water consumption at the installation level, which shall finally change due to improvements brought by the Regulation establishing the Industrial Emissions Portal.
The comprehensiveness of at the source pollution control measures through ambitious permit emission limit values will mainly depend on the review of the pollutants lists and thresholds considered under the Regulation establishing the Industrial Emissions Portal, to be finalised in 2025, on the one hand, as well as permit writers’ ambition to prioritise pollution prevention impact prevention v. operators’ economic concerns, which depend on the ambition level set by the BAT-Conclusions in relation to water protection.
The amount of pollutants discharged to water (above the reporting thresholds) and reported by the European operators are available through the EEA Industrial Emissions Portal.
The EEB advocates for:
- The suppression of ‘relevance thresholds’ for chemicals of concern or other priority hazardous substances negatively affecting water protection;
- A comprehensive group approach for PFAS listing and its phase out at the source;
- Mandatory reporting on water consumption at installation level for all IED activities as well as BAT conclusions promoting water efficiency.
See more information in the IEP-R section and letter sent (February 2025) to DG Environment related to the PFAS problem and the role of the IED / EU BAT with Annex.
The IED 2.0 puts more focus on water protection, namely through the following provisions:
- The obligation to set strictest possible permit emission limits also apply in relation to water protection, depending on the stringency of BAT-AELs on waste water discharges;
- Annex III (BAT criteria) oblige the use of “less hazardous substances” (point 2 of Annex III), “the consumption, nature of raw materials, including water, used in the process and resource efficiency and reuse” (point 9 of Annex III) and the “need to prevent or reduce to a minimum the overall impact of the emissions on the environment, including biodiversity, and the risks to it” (point 10 of Annex III). The other general principle of the basic obligations laid upon the operator has been tightened: “all the appropriate preventive measures are taken against pollution” (IED Article 11 point a) as well as “material resources and water are used efficiently, including through re-use” (point fa) .
- In case of incidents that may have consequences also to human health or environmental impacts, the operator must take immediate measures to limit the consequences (Art 7). This obligation is strengthened in case of events affecting pollution of drinking water resources, including transboundary resources or affecting wastewater infrastructure in the case of indirect discharges.
- The provisions on indirect discharges have been tightened (Art 15(1)) so to not impede the functioning of downstream urban wastewater treatment plants, but also with a view to recover resources from the wastewater stream.
- A derogation from performance-based BAT levels (BAT-AEPL) may not be granted if it would deplete water resources (Art 15(6)).
- Requirements ensuring the protection of soil and groundwater have been extended to the protection of surface water and catchment areas for abstraction points of water intended for human consumption as referred to in article 7 of Directive (EU) 2020/2184. Furthermore, the monitoring frequency for groundwater has been increased to once every 4 years (from once every 5 years), and for soil to once every 9 years (from once every 10 years).
Further information:
- Please check the relevant EU BREF sections for more sector specific water protection aspects;
- Please check out the EU (lignite) mine data viewer https://eipie.eu/projects/eu-mine-data-viewer/, highlighting high water stress areas linked to lignite mining and poor quantitative and chemical status. Key finding are that average residential water cost (including wastewater treatment costs) is 11 to 88 times higher as compared to the cost paid by mining operators.
- “Mind the gap” report (2021), highlighting widespread policy failure to implement the water cost recovery principle when it comes to lignite and coal mining in Europe.
