The EU Water Frame­work Directive

In 2000, the Euro­pean Union issued its Water Frame­work Direc­tive (WFD). This direc­tive called for a more holis­tic approach to how water qual­ity and lev­els of water pol­lu­tion are assessed. It placed the focus on river basins, because this is where most cities, towns, indus­tries and agri­cul­tural activ­i­ties are cen­tred, and because rivers are a pri­mary source of water for domes­tic and other uses. (It also takes other water sys­tems into account.) The WFD directed that, in future, water qual­ity and water pol­lu­tion must be assessed, not sim­ply by water test­ing against a given stan­dard, but by exam­in­ing the impact of human activ­ity upon the ecosys­tem of a river basin or water sys­tem as a whole. The impact on ani­mal and plant life, changes in water chem­istry and in hydro­mor­phol­ogy, will deter­mine whether a water sys­tem is judged to have good qual­ity water.

This move raises the bar for water qual­ity test­ing, chal­leng­ing any temp­ta­tion to set stan­dards that might be more eas­ily met, but which would have an envi­ron­men­tal cost. Every EU coun­try must achieve a ‘good’ sta­tus in all of their sig­nif­i­cant river basins and water sys­tems by 2015. To see where Ire­land stands in rela­tion to these stan­dards, see our blog post Water Qual­ity in Ire­land.

The Pol­luter Pays

Another sig­nif­i­cant, related direc­tive of the WFD is that the pol­luter pays prin­ci­ple should inform not only pol­icy around major pol­lu­tion inci­dents, but water sup­ply and waste water charges as well. This has far-reaching impli­ca­tions. The pol­luter pays prin­ci­ple says that indus­tries, busi­nesses and agri­cul­ture must pay for the cost of water sup­plies and also for any waste water treat­ment of the run-off from their plants, premises or farms. All such costs asso­ci­ated with main­tain­ing water qual­ity are to be built into users’ water charges.

How­ever, almost every human use of water pol­lutes it. Domes­tic wash­ing, clean­ing, toi­let and sewer sys­tems, all add dirt, waste and chem­i­cals to the water we use. And so the pol­luter pays prin­ci­ple applies to domes­tic water usage too. Under the WFD, domes­tic users will pay for the water they use and also for the post-use treat­ment of that water. This is already the case in the UK, where domes­tic users can pay as much for the quan­tity of waste water they allow flow into the sew­ers as for the water they draw from the water sup­ply in the first place. (Waste water is also metered). The chal­lenge for house­holds will be to min­imise water use and to min­imise their pol­lu­tion of that water.

Water Charges

The WFD does not allow gov­ern­ments to profit from water charges, but the direc­tive rec­om­mends two poli­cies which will push water charges upward. First, gov­ern­ments are directed to price water at a suf­fi­ciently high level so as that users will be moti­vated to reduce their water usage. (Higher water charges, together with more water-efficient tech­nolo­gies, have been an impor­tant fac­tor in falling domes­tic water usage in many Euro­pean coun­tries.) Sec­ond, gov­ern­ments are encour­aged to take a long-term eco­nomic view. In prin­ci­ple, this means that prices might fall due to antic­i­pated falling costs of sup­ply­ing water in the future. In prac­tice, it is more likely to mean that gov­ern­ments will fac­tor into cur­rent prices antic­i­pated future increases in the cost of main­tain­ing an ade­quate water sup­ply due to higher demand, increased indus­trial activ­ity, the need to replace or upgrade infra­struc­ture, or more exact­ing envi­ron­men­tal stan­dards, etc.

The Chal­lenges Ahead

In 2007, the Irish Gov­ern­ment enacted the Water Ser­vices Act, which goes some way toward meet­ing the require­ments of the EU direc­tive, though many of the Act’s pro­vi­sions remain to be fully imple­mented. As they are imple­mented, the chal­lenge for house­holds and busi­nesses will be

• to reduce water use through elim­i­na­tion of water wastage
• to reduce water use through water-efficient prac­tices and equipment
• to min­imise con­t­a­m­i­na­tion of water used
• to re-use grey-water appropriately
• to col­lect and use rain­wa­ter appropriately

GreenValet’s water­less car clean­ing & valet­ing prod­ucts and domes­tic clean­ing prod­ucts offer house­holds sig­nif­i­cant ways of reduc­ing their water usage.

For car valet­ing busi­nesses and the auto indus­try, GreenValet’s Com­plete Car Clean­ing & Valet­ing Solu­tion offers a 100% non-toxic water­less sys­tem and a water-based sys­tem, which will reduce water use sig­nif­i­cantly and which is 100% non-toxic.

See our Top 10 Water Sav­ing Tips.