drinking water

Between 2009-2015, the UBA scientifically developed, under the EU´s chemical legislation REACH, new criteria to identify substances which have intrinsic properties that indicate a hazard to the sources of our drinking water. Chemical safety experts and regulators agreed on the need to precautionarily identify such substances of concern. This is considered as the emergence of the PMT/vPvM criteria.

PMT/vPvM substances are persistent and mobile in the aquatic environment. These intrinsic substance properties allow them to spread to the sources of our drinking water. Contamination can be irreparable as these substances remain in the environment and break through filters and survive drinking water treatment. Consequently, registrants under REACH must minimise any emissions into the environment.

Treated urban wastewater is usually discharged to rivers. A UBA study assessed the contributions of wastewater effluents in surface waters in Germany and evaluated potential risks for drinking water abstraction.

With Karl-Heinz Florenz (member of the European Parliament, European People's Party), Ingrid Chorus, director of the department for drinking water at the UBA, opened a breakfast session on the topic of materials in contact with drinking water. On 7 June 2018, 50 experts from EU institutions, the EU member states and associations discussed the controversy surrounding the proposal by the Commission.

Small-scale systems are important for a safe supply with drinking-water, particularly in rural areas. Experience has shown that they are often facing challenges, for example with respect to qualification of operators, resource protection and surveillance. Generating an enabling environment is therefore important for their safe operation.

Drinking-water is most likely safe if all process steps – i.e. abstraction, treatment and distribution – are working as they should. This requires proper management during planning, construction and installation, operation and maintenance of the entire system from catchment to consumer. Also, good understanding of these processes facilitates early identification of potentially present weaknesses.

The main aim of the Protocol is to protect public health from water-related diseases.