Adoption Committee of the Regions Opinion on “EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”

Adoption Committee of the Regions Opinion on “EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”

At its Plenary Session on 27 January 2022, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted unanimously the Opinion “EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil“. You can find below the key points regarding the water issues:

1. welcomes the target of reducing microplastics released into the environment by 30% and encourages the European Commission to set clear definitions of microplastics, but also to work on preventing the release of microplastics and non-wovens at source by proposing stricter measures on intentionally released microplastics;= > in line with our recommendation 2
2. welcomes the revision of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and supports the initiative to use this Directive to work towards recovering valuable nutrients and the initiative to look at emerging substances such as pharmaceutical residues and microplastics; => in line with recommendation 3
3. recommends assessing the effectiveness of these measures and considering what investments are required regarding pharmaceuticals and microplastics, targeting hotspots, where there are risks to the ecology or drinking-water sources; => in line with our recommendation 1.1 and 1.3
4. advocates monitoring substances in the surface and groundwater using innovative monitoring and evaluation techniques and including this in the revision of the Priority Substances Directive and the Groundwater Directive. Points out the need for exchanges of information on discharges in catchment areas because emissions of pollutants have an effect downstream; => in line with our recommendation 4
5. expresses concern that water reuse in the EU is still limited and believes it could be supported through widening the scope of the EU regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse to include the use of water for the irrigation of green spaces in urban areas, parks, gardens and grounds for public use (e.g. recreation, sport); => in line with recommendation 3.