OCTOBER 20248 CHEMICAL INDUSTRY REVIEWIN MY OPINION By Prof. Tony Harrington, Director of Environment, Dwr Cymru Welsh WaterCHEMICALS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT CHANGES A FOOT TO BETTER CONTROL THESE ARE ABOUT TO BE FORMULATEDIf we are to move to a sustainable future, we are going to need to reduce significantly the pollution caused by the chemicals society uses. The good news is that across the EU anyhow, changes are afoot to do just that. Many of the chemicals which essentially enable a modern society to function find their way into our environment. Many public health and environmental bodies are concerned about these chemicals and their impacts on the health on both us humans but also ecosystems generally. Our concerns are driving change, and the EU Commission are looking again at these in the knowledge that existing processes are not adequately protecting the environment and or public health, practically anywhere in Europe according to the reports made by member states with respect to the Water Framework Directive. So something clearly is not working somewhere, and regulatory change is urgently needed.The EU Commission, just as our UK governments do, understand all too well that European waters are affected by a wide range of significant pressures,includingwaterpollution (by chemicals), historic morphological alterations, and climate change (increased temperatures, water scarcity and floods). The data shows that discharges of pollutants by a wide range of anthropogenic sources including agriculture, road runoff, sewage effluents, households, and manufacturing industries have had detrimental effects on aquatic ecosystems and constitute a cause for concern. To tackle these pressures, a number of the EU water directives and regulations have been implemented and are currently being reviewed or refreshed.The cornerstone of these is the Water Framework Directive(WFD)which provides the main policy framework for preserving and restoring the quality of European waterbodies ,laying downa common framework within an integrated planning approach. Our waters are at risk from the chemicals we use as a society as they can affect ecosystems and, in some cases, threaten human health. Therefore under the WFD, complementary Directives have been implemented all of which have the same goal, that of restoring the quality of our rivers, transitional waters and seas to what is called `good status'. These include the Environmental Quality Standards Directive(EQSD)(2008/105/EC, as amendedby2013/39/EU)­ which establishes the standards which constitute the chemical status criteria for surface waters under the WFD, and the Directive on the protection of Groundwater against pollution and deterioration(GWD)(2006/118/EC, as amended by Commission Directive2014/80/EU). In the UK there are a host of UK Regulations which reflect these controls and standards.There has also been a significant progress since the1990s through the implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD)(91/271/EEC),Nitrates Directive(91/676/EEC)and Industrial Emissions Directive(IED)(2010/75/EU) amongst others ­ for the improvement of bathing, shellfish and freshwater fishery waters. The implementation of these directives has translated into much improved waste water collection and treatment, reduced volumes of industrial effluents and reduced in some areas nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. However, significant surface and ground water quality challenges remain ­ particularly around man-made chemicals. I think it would be fair to say that we have more than enough legislation in this space, and yet they are clearly not working effectively to protect our environment and public health.To better understand why this is (from an EU perspective anyhow) the Commission's EU Water Legislation Fitness Check concluded that water legislation comprising the WFD, the EQSD, GWD and the Floods Directive (FD),are broadly fit for purpose. This was hard for many to understand particularly in the eNGO community given the very widescale non compliance reported
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