Rivers and lakes throughout the European Union are set to meet new quality standards following recommendations in a report by Conservative Euro-MP Robert Sturdy.
Mr Sturdy’s proposals set limits on the concentrations of a number of chemical substances that pose a particular risk to human health and animal and plant life in the aquatic environment. These substances include some pesticides, heavy metals and other dangerous chemicals such as mercury,
The directive will implement part of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and will form a major part of EU legislation relating to water policy. The report was this week adopted by the European Parliament and it will now go to the Council for their consideration.
The proposal aims to protect the environment and human health by reducing the amount of certain substances in our water. It will require individual member states to monitor the quality of their surface water and Sturdy believes it is a workable and cost-effective directive.
Robert Sturdy, who is a member of the Environment Committee, said:
“This directive is essential to ensure that the highest standards are met to protect our plants and water life, as well as humans. It is particularly crucial now that standards are set as we do not know how climate change will impact on the quality of our rivers and lakes.
“We were successful in getting the most important points of the report adopted and now have a workable directive which will achieve the balance between ensuring greater safety and cleanliness of our waters while not putting an onerous burden on industry.”