The water companies have called for a fresh approach to the issue of controlling the risk of pollution from material in contact with drinking water –and suggest that ultimately a new European regulation might be needed to address the problem.
The comments form part of the response made by the utilities’ representative body Water UK to the European Comission’s current consultation on possible revisions to the Drinking Water Directive.
According to Water UK, materials in contact with drinking water, especially on customer side, are potentially one of the biggest challenges – nickel, chromium, lead etc.
The organisation believes a fresh approach is now needed – especially with regards to product assessment so all EU Member States can have confidence in products available to consumers.
The sector has tried to address this for some time initially via the EAS and more recently by the 4 Member States (4MS) Initiative. However, Water UK said that whilst the 4MS initiative provides a solid basis for the acceptance of approval schemes for drinking water related materials and products it has had “limited success and has not delivered the outcomes envisaged.”
The response states:
“To truly address this issue there is scope for a new approach to be explored and developed. We consider that the ultimate goal is likely to be a European regulation but consider that a pragmatic approach should be adopted whilst progress is being made whereby a gap analysis is carried out to identify areas of commonality in the 4 individual MS approaches and work towards a process of mutual recognition.”
Water UK said that this could offer benefits to manufacturers sooner, provide a firm foundation to support future drinking water regulation and realise the Commission’s aspirations of harmonisation for product standards out in the Construction Products Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (CPR).
Water UK is calling for further clarity from the Commission as part of its evaluation of the DWD.
Click here to read the Water UK response in full.
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