New substances added to the EU's surface water watchlist

The Commission has adopted a new watchlist of substances in surface waters suspected of posing a risk to the environment and human health.

It contains twelve pollutants, including pesticides and pharmaceuticals, a sunscreen agent, and an antioxidant used in tyres, the impacts of which have been identified as a possible widespread concern by EU Member States' experts.         

Member States will monitor the listed substances at a limited number of monitoring stations in selected representative surface waters for at least the next two years to provide data on their concentrations and environmental presence.

The data will help the Commission to determine whether the substances pose a widespread risk. If they do, they will be considered for inclusion in the list of priority substances under the Water Framework Directive – which would require Member States to agree on maximum allowable threshold values for their presence in surface waters, and to take measures, if possible, at source to reduce or phase out their emissions.

Background

The watchlist mechanism was introduced in 2013. The first watchlist was established in 2015 as a cost-effective and dynamic way of ensuring that the Commission can keep the EU legislation on water pollutants up-to-date by gathering evidence, in particular on contaminants of emerging concern.

The results from previous watchlists have contributed to the 2022 Commission proposal to update that legislation, which is currently being discussed with the co-legislators and which has the simultaneous objective of securing the faster sharing of monitoring data, reducing administrative burden and tapping the potential for digitalisation. This is the fourth update to the watchlist and is based on technical work led by the Commission’s DG Joint Research Centre. 

More information

Surface water | European Commission

Selection of substances for the 5th Watchlist under the Water Framework Directive | Publications Office of the EU