Persistent chemicals and water resources protection - Technical Report No. 139

The review of existing EU legislation concludes that several water policies in the EU, such as the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater Directive and the Drinking Water Directive, aim for the protection of surface, ground, bathing and drinking water. [...] The Sewage Sludge Directive is also relevant as it regulates the use of sewage sludge as a fertiliser to prevent the quality of the soil and of the surface water and groundwater being impaired. [...] 139 9 Persistent chemicals and water resources protection The European Commission (EC) acknowledges the need to review the approach to the current listing of PSs under the WFD and to the current assessment of the chemical status, and to consider eventually a wider range of chemical substances that could be covered in future monitoring programmes (Napierska et al., 2018). [...] The SSD prohibits the use of untreated sludge on agricultural land and requires that sludge should be used in such a way that account is taken of the nutrient requirements of plants and that the quality of the soil and of the surface and groundwater is not impaired. [...] In Canada, for the evaluation of the potential for exposure to humans and the components of the environment, it is recognised that consideration should be given not only to physico-chemical properties, such as the mobility and fluidity of the substance, but also to the amount, frequency of application and condition of chemicals released to the environment.