EU Revising Public Water Reuse Policy

Public Consultation On Policy Options to Optimise Water Reuse In The EU

Introduction Europe's freshwater resources are under increasing stress, with a worrying mismatch between demand for, and availability of, water resources across both temporal and geographical (spatial) scales. Water stress is an issue for arid regions with low rainfall and high population density, but also for temperate areas with intense agricultural, tourism and industrial activities. Global climate change is already exacerbating these problems with projections indicating significant and widespread impacts over the medium to long term. Growing competition for water resources between different water using sectors is already emerging, while high quality resources need to be protected and reserved for drinking water supply. Europe's ability to respond to the increasing risks of water scarcity and drought could be enhanced by wider reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural, industrial and urban uses in particular. At present, most wastewater originating from urban waste water treatment plants is discharged into water bodies without taking advantage of water reuse solutions' potential.It has been pointed out that this may be due to the lack of common EU environmental/health standards for re-used water and the potential obstacles to the free movement of agricultural products irrigated with reused water. The maximisation of water reuse is a specific objective of the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources (COM(2012) 673) which mentioned the development of a possible regulation establishing common standards for water reuse. It is also a top priority area in the Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership for Water. As a follow-up to the Blueprint, the Commission aims to evaluate the most suitable EU-level instrument/s to foster water reuse, while ensuring the health and environmental safety of water reuse practices and the free trade of food products. In 2015, the Commission intends to finalise an assessment on the issue and, subject to its conclusions, to make a proposal as appropriate. The Impact Assessment will focus on the reuse of wastewater from urban wastewater treatment plants that has been subject to, at least, secondary treatment, as well as the reuse of appropriately treated industrial wastewater. The assessment will cover all key areas of possible application of water reuse: agriculture, urban, industrial, and recreational uses (e.g. golf courses, bathing), groundwater recharge, etc. This internet-based consultation is part of the European Commission's efforts to understand the citizens' and stakeholders' views on the need for and possible range of measures which could be undertaken in order to foster safe water reuse solutions. The results will be used as an input for the preparation of the Impact Assessment. The consultation runs from30 July 2014 to7November 2014. Please note that this consultation and its results do not prejudge in any way the final outcome and the form of any decision to be taken by the European Commission on this topic. Source: European ComissionBackground document to the public consultation on policy options to optimisewater reuse in the EU Current situation Reports on wastewater reuse in the European Union have recently been commissioned by DG ENV (TYPSA,
2012; TYPSA, 2013) in order to get an overview of current reuse practices in Europe. These reports, however,
mostly refer to information sources from 2006-2007. In particular, comprehensive data on quantities reused date
back to 2006 (data produced as part of the EU-funded AQUAREC project). In 2006, it was estimated that the totalvolume of reused treated wastewater in the EU amounted to 964 Mm³/year, accounting for 2.4% of the treatedurban wastewater effluents (Hochstrat et al., 2006). Figure 1 below presents the amount of reused wastewaterin European countries, as estimated by AQUAREC in 2006, relative to the spatial distribution of water stress. Spainaccounted for about a third of the total volume of EU water reuse (347 Mm³/year) while Italy usedapproximately 233 Mm³/year. In both countries, agriculture is the dominant use. Reclaimed water reuse was alsosignificant in Cyprus (100% of treated effluents) and Malta (just under 60%), whereas in Greece, Italy and Spainwater reuse constituted only between 5 and 12 % of their treated effluents. Source: European Comission

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• Job Function
• Water Reuse & Recycling
• Policy