Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wasserwerke im Rheineinzugsgebiet
IAWR
Schutz der Trinkwasser-Qualität durch vorsorgenden Schutz der Trinkwasserressourcen Die IAWR fördert auf internationaler Ebene Bestrebungen und Maßnahmen, durch Verschmutzung und sonstige Beeinträchtigung der Beschaffenheit des Rheines und seiner Nebenflüsse, Einzugsgebiete und Grundwasserkörper verursachte Gefahren für die öffentliche Wasserversorgung abzuwenden und zu beseitigen. Dadurch soll erreicht werden, dass die Versorgung mit einwandfreiem Trinkwasser jederzeit sichergestellt werden kann.
ID: 871789939103-15
Lobbying Activity
Response to Food and Feed Safety Simplification Omnibus
14 Oct 2025
Effective protection of drinking water resources is essential for public health and future well-being of EU citizens. The following aspects need to be taken into account: - In a News article of July 2022, the German Environment Agency (UBA) pointed out that, even with Codes of Good Practice, conventional agriculture now leads to contamination of drinking water resources by degradation products (metabolites) of chemically synthetized pesticides/plant protection products. Pesticide authorisation procedures no longer offer sufficient protection. - - The European Unions primary law (Art. 191 (2) TFEU) requires rectifying environmental damage at the source of the pollution which in this context is the application of pesticides/plant protection products. - Ongoing lack of implementation of the WFD and its provisions to i) prevent deterioration of the chemical status of all bodies of groundwater used for the abstraction of drinking water (Art. 4.1) and ii) to reduce the level of purification treatment in waterworks (Art. 7.3). However, the European Parliament in its resolution of 12 February 2019 (P8_TA(2019)0082) on the implementation of the SUD correctly regrets the fact that the deterioration of water resources has increasingly led to additional treatment by drinking water operators in order to ensure that water intended for human consumption complies with the pesticides limits as enshrined in Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption, with the costs being borne by consumers, not polluters; (Nr. 29). Costs being borne by consumers is not in line with EUs primary law (Art. 191 (2) TFEU) enshrining that the polluter should pay. The European Parliament furthermore recommends that use of agro-chemical substances be prohibited in soils potentially draining into groundwater (Nr. 65). European Primary Law requires that costs arising from the installation and operation of additional treatment technology to remove pesticide degradation products must be borne by the polluters ("polluter pays"). - The revised Drinking Water Directive (2020/2184) of the European Parliament and of the Council requires the supervising authorities, in cooperation with the drinking water suppliers, to carry out an appropriate risk assessment and risk management. But the required risk management cannot be done by them due to a lack of authority. It can only be done by the regulator. - Considering the financial, regulatory and especially the technical constraints, there are limits set to any further orientation towards removal of pesticide inputs by waterworks. - The European Citizens' Initiative "Save Bees and Farmers was officially declared successful on 10.10.2022. The EU Commission is thus called upon by 1.1 million EU citizens to submit a legislative proposal that provides for an even more far-reaching pesticide reduction than the Commission's SUR proposal. Member States are called upon to allocate a budget to support farmers in their transition to sustainable farming without chemically synthesized pesticides/plant protection products. - The current generation is not allowed to deprive future generations of intact drinking water resources. Already today, the protection of their drinking water is an urgent concern of the population, cf. European Citizens Initiative (ECI) Save Bees and Farmers.
Read full responseResponse to European Water Resilience Strategy
27 Feb 2025
The IAWR, International Association of Waterworks in the Rhine basin, welcomes the EU Commissions Call for Evidence on the European Water Resilience Strategy. IAWR would like to highlight the objectives laid out by the 16th Rhine Ministerial Conference on 13 February 2020 in Amsterdam in program Rhine 2040 and the Conference Communiqué: https://www.iksr.org/fileadmin/user_upload/DKDM/Dokumente/Kommuniques/EN/com_En_communiqu%C3%A9_EN.pdf. Most importantly, the contracting parties, including the EU, agreed upon a reduction of at least 30 % of micropollutants influx from urban drainage, industry and agriculture into waters within the Rhine Basin. The ICPR, International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, was tasked with its monitoring and evaluation. IAWR along with other drinking water suppliers associations (ERM Coalition) is convinced that a future-proof drinking water supply requires a comprehensive protection of drinking water resources. The common understanding is laid down in the European River Memorandum (ERM), https://en.iawr.org/timm/download.php?file=data/docs/aktuell/european-river-memorandum-2020-en.pdf and the European Groundwater Memorandum, https://en.iawr.org/timm/download.php?file=data/docs/lit_memoranden/europeangroundwatermemorandum_2022_en.pdf. Besides the two memoranda, IAWR asks for consideration of its positions which can be found in the pdf attached: 1. State-backed Transformation of Conventional Agriculture as Key to Water Protection and Elementary Soil Functions 2. Position of the ERM Coalition on the Polluter Pays Principle fitness check of its application to the environment 3. Integrated water management revised lists of surface and groundwater pollutants 4. Revision of the EU general pharmaceuticals legislation 5. Position of the ERM Coalition on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Sustainable Use of plant protection products 6. Position of the ERM Coalition on the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and the new Industrial Emissions Portal (IEP) Regulation
Read full responseMeeting with Hildegard Bentele (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and ERM Coalition
2 Dec 2024 · EU water policy
19 Dec 2023
Comments on proposed legislation on Safeners and Synergists: Safeners and synergists are released into the environment just as active substances and therefore need to be as thoroughly assessed as active substances. PMT/vPvM criteria also need to be taken into account (cf. CLP Regulation). PFAS remain in the environment and pose a significant risk to drinking water ressources and therefore must not be authorised.
Read full responseResponse to The protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources – Evaluation
19 Dec 2023
Questions and answers on Nitrates Directive Implementation Report 10/2021 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_5110 conclude: Nitrate pollution has also significant economic impacts in terms of cleaning the water for human consumption and for the communities who depend from the polluted waters, such as fisheries and the tourism sector. The overall environmental costs of all reactive nitrogen losses in Europe are estimated at EUR 70EUR320 billion per year, much beyond the costs of reducing pollution at source. Therefore, reducing pollution at source needs to have priority.
Read full responseMeeting with Sarah Wiener (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)
25 May 2023 · staff-only: SUR, water protection
Response to Sustainable use of pesticides – revision of the EU rules
13 Sept 2022
Die IAWR vertritt 120 Wasserversorger und 61 Millionen Menschen im Flusseinzugsgebiet des Rheins (IAWR, AWBR, ARW, RIWA-Rijn), die auf sauberes Trinkwasser angewiesen sind.
Der Vorschlag der EU-Kommission ist ein überfälliger, gut ausgearbeiteter Schritt in die dringend benötigte Richtung. Aus Sicht der IAWR gibt es keinen Raum mehr für Kompromisse: Der SUR-Vorschlag der Kommission ist unerlässlich, um die Trinkbarkeit des Leitungswassers auch in Zukunft zu erhalten. Trinkbares Leitungswasser muss als ein Kernelement von Wohlstand angesehen werden.
Verbesserungschancen des Vorschlags:
Transparenz über die Anwendung von Pestiziden/PSM wird sowohl von den für die Überwachung der Wasserrahmenrichtlinie (WRRL, 2000/60/EG) zuständigen Wasserbehörden als auch von den Trinkwasserversorgern benötigt.
Die Mitgliedstaaten sind aufgefordert, ein Budget bereitzustellen, um die konventionelle Landwirtschaft bei der Umstellung auf eine nachhaltige Landwirtschaft ohne Pestizide/PSM zu unterstützen. Hierfür wird den Mitgliedstaaten empfohlen, dem dänischen Modell zu folgen und eine zweckgebundene Pestizidabgabe einzuführen, die eine Lenkungswirkung entfalten kann – weg von besonders gefährlichen Pestiziden hin zu weniger kritischen Stoffen oder alternativen Methoden (vgl. UBA-Pressemitteilung vom 23. Juni 2022).
Dem obigen Feedback liegen folgende Erwägungen zugrunde:
Die Neufassung der Trinkwasserrichtlinie (2020/2184) verpflichtet die Aufsichtsbehörden, in Zusammenarbeit mit den Trinkwasserversorgern eine angemessene Risikobewertung und ein Risikomanagement auszuführen. Das geforderte Risikomanagement kann aber aufgrund fehlender Befugnisse nicht von ihnen ausgeführt werden, sondern muss vom Regulierer (dem Agrarrat und dem Europäischen Parlament) in der aktuellen SUD-Revision umgesetzt werden.
Die SUD-Revision ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Erreichung einer 50 %igen Reduktion beim Einsatz und der Risiken chemischer Pestizide im Rahmen der „Farm-to-Fork"-Strategie (F2F, s. unterstützende Entschließung des Europäischen Parlaments vom 20.10.2021, P9_TA(2021)0425) und der Biodiversitäts-Strategie sowie des "Null-Schadstoff-Aktionsplans" (Kap. 2.3) als Kernelemente des European Green Deals und des Allgemeinen Umweltaktionsprogramms der Europäischen Union bis 2030 des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates (BESCHLUSS (EU) 2022/591 vom 6. April 2022).
Weiterer Bedarf für eine SUR-Ratifizierung ergeben sich aus dem gravierenden, anhaltenden Umsetzungsdefizit der WRRL und ihrer Bestimmungen, i) eine Verschlechterung des Zustands aller Grundwasserkörper zu verhindern (Art. 4.1) und ii) den Umfang der Aufbereitung in Wasserwerken zu verringern (Art. 7.3). Allerdings bedauert das Europäische Parlament in seiner Entschließung vom 12.02.2019 (P8_TA(2019)0082) zur Umsetzung der SUD - zutreffenderweise - "die Verschlechterung der Wasserressourcen dazu geführt hat, dass immer mehr Trinkwasserproduzenten ihre Erzeugnisse zusätzlich behandeln, um sicherzustellen, dass bei Wasser für den menschlichen Gebrauch die Pestizidgrenzwerte der Richtlinie 98/83/EG des Rates über die Qualität von Wasser für den menschlichen Gebrauch eingehalten werden, wobei die Kosten den Verbrauchern und nicht den Verursachern aufgebürdet werden" (Nr. 29). Eine Kostentragung durch die Verbraucher/-innen steht nicht im Einklang mit dem EU-Primärrecht (Art. 191 (2) AEUV), das das Verursacherprinzip vorsieht. Das Europäische Parlament empfiehlt zudem, die Verwendung von agrochemischen Stoffen "auf Böden, die möglicherweise eine Verbindung zum Grundwasser aufweisen, zu verbieten" (Nr. 65).
Es ist der jetzigen Generation nicht gestattet, künftigen Generationen intakte Trinkwasserressourcen vorzuenthalten. Bereits heute ist der Schutz ihres Trinkwassers ein dringendes Anliegen der Bevölkerung, vgl. die Europäische Bürgerinitiative (EBI) "Bienen und Bauern retten".
Read full responseResponse to Evaluation of the Environmental Liability Directive and of its implementation
22 Dec 2021
The International Association of Waterworks in the Rhine Basin (IAWR) would like to respond to the call for evidence concerning the evaluation of the Environmental Liability Directive in order to highlight missing implementation of the directive and of the Polluter Pays Principle in the document attached.
Read full responseResponse to Clarification of requirements for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals
16 Nov 2020
IAWR Feedback
Draft regulation: Chemicals - clarification of requirements for registering, evaluating, authorising and restricting chemicals
IAWR as International Association of Waterworks in the Rhine Basin with 61 million inhabitants depending on clean drinking water welcomes improvements in the legislation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (the ‘REACH Regulation’)and the possibility to give feedback.
Generally, we would like to give to consider existing legal requirements for authorities and drinking water suppliers that have to ensure water intended for human consumption is clean and that have to protect human health from adverse effects of any contamination. This must be fully taken into account as a basis for all legislation on chemicals.
Therefore, regarding proposed amendments for Annex XI, section 1 („Testing does not appear scientifically necessary“), subsection 1.5. (“Grouping of substances and read-across approach”) we have to stress that grouping of substances may not lead to distortion of hazards and underestimating risks. This would e.g. be the case if a substance of average hazard would be chosen for representing a group. Instead, the substance associated with the highest hazard has to be chosen. This aspect is also relevant in the context of the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, presented by the European Commission on 14 October 2020 (COM(2020) 667 final), and the proposed gradual move away from assessing and regulating chemicals substance-by-substance to regulating them by groups (Chapter 2.3.1). For drinking water supply, the effect of every single substance will remain crucial. And, of course, the combined effects of chemical mixtures.
In the context of revisions of the REACH regulation, IAWR is highlighting the proposal by the German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), ‘Protecting the sources of our drinking water - A revised proposal for implementing criteria and an assessment procedure to identify Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PMT) and very Persistent, very Mobile (vPvM) substances registered under REACH’, https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/protecting-the-sources-of-our-drinking-water-from, https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/1410/publikationen/2018-02-12_texte_09-2018_pmt-of-167-reach-substances_v3.pdf.
Any further changes in regulation of chemicals have to serve the European Green Deal to finally achieve a toxic-free environment. Therefore, IAWR highly welcomes an ambitious EU Action Plan Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil as basis for the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability as well as the ambitious corresponding European Parliament resolution P9_TA(2020)0201 calling for a transition to a circular, safe and sustainable chemicals sector, including the sustainable use of renewable feedstock to support the bioeconomy, and long-term investments to achieve a toxic-free environment.
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