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The Directive EU 2020/2184 (Drinking Water Directive) requires that all EU Member States ensure the supply of clean and wholesome water intended for human consumption The Directive sets out the minimum standards for the quality of this water at the EU level, while Member States may adopt even stricter provisions.
These minimum drinking water quality standards aim at protecting human health from the adverse impacts of using and consuming water contaminated with bacteria (e.g. Escherichia coli) and chemicals (e.g. nitrates, metals, pesticides, hydrocarbons, PFAS etc.).). Each Member State should ensure that monitoring programmes are established to check that water intended for human consumption meets the requirements of this Directive. Most of the monitoring to be carried out for the purposes of this Directive will be performed by water suppliers and could take place
If monitoring shows that the quality standards are exceeded, then remedial actions must be taken to restore water quality. The use of water not meeting the quality standards can be prohibited or restricted and the population should be informed.
Table 1: Requirements of the recast DWD