Water Standartds:

International Standartds:

The Codex Alimentarius (WHO & FAO) normalizes food products on a global scale, on the one hand to ensure the free flow of international traffic and secondly to establish uniform health standards.

Here you can find the Codex Standard for

CODE OF HYGIENIC PRA CTICE FOR BOTTLED/PACKAGED DRINKING WATERS (OTHER THAN NATURAL MINERAL WATERS)
CAC/RCP 48-2001

International trade in bottled water has increased in recent years, both in quantity and diversity. Because of greater transport capacity, it is now possible to distribute bottled water not just as ship, rail, and road cargo but also as airfreight, the latter being used mainly in crisis situations due to the higher cost. By all these means of transport, a remedy for water shortages has become available when local water supply systems fail due to natural causes (such as droughts and earthquakes) or societal disasters (such as sieges or sabotage) and bottled water, both natural mineral water and diverse other sorts, has been brought in to meet such emergencies.

GENERAL STANDARD FOR BOTTLED/ PACKAGED DRINKING WATERS (Other than Natural Mineral Waters)
CODEX STAN 227-2001

This Standard applies to waters for drinking purposes other than Natural Mineral Waters, as defined in the Revised Codex Standard CODEX STAN 108-1981, that are prepackaged/bottled (1) and are suitable for human consumption.

(1)

As defined in Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods:
“prepackaged foods to be offered as such to consumer or forcatering purposes”.

European law is shown in this area:

Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, pp. 32-54)
Successive amendments to Directive 98/83/EC have been incorporated in to the original document. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

The Directive 98/83/EC does set the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Its aim is to sets standards for drinking water and to protect public health from the adverse effect of any contamination by ensuring water for human consumption* is wholesome and clean.

 

Review of the Directive

1) Evaluation: The Commission published on 1 December 2016 a Staff Working Document on the REFIT Evaluation of the Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC, SWD(2016) 428 final. The Executive Summary is available in EN FR DE.

2) The revision of the overall Directive and the necessary Impact Assessment have been included in the Commission Work Programme 2017 (COM(2016)710 final).

3) Revision of technical annexes: The Commission adopted on 6th October 2015 COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2015/1787 amending Annexes II and III to the Drinking Water Directive. The Directive entered into force on 27th October 2015. The text of the Directive can be found in the Official Journal of the European Union. It has to be transposed into national legislation within a period of 24 months by the Member States.

The amendments will give in the future an opportunity to monitor drinking water parameters at more appropriate frequencies. The new Annex II provides an option to perform the drinking water monitoring in around 100,000 water supply zones in Europe in a more flexible way, provided a risk assessment is performed ensuring full protection of public health. It follows the principle of ‘hazard analysis and critical control point’ (HACCP) used already in food legislation, and the water safety plan approach laid down in the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. These amendments will allow a better and more problem-oriented monitoring of small water supplies. The new monitoring and control system allows to reduce unnecessary analyses and to concentrate on those controls that matter.

4) Concerning radioactive substances in drinking water, in 2013 a Council Directive 2013/51/EURATOM was adopted, to be transposed by 28 November 2015, superseding the radioactivity requirements in Directive 98/83/EC. Further background on the Euratom Treaty and radiation protection legislation can be found here.

The EU Water Framework Directive - integrated river basin management for Europe

On 23 October 2000, the “Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy” or, in short, the EU Water Framework Directive (or even shorter the WFD) was finally adopted.

The Directive was published in the Official Journal (OJ L 327) on 22 December 2000 and entered into force the same day. Some amendments have been introduced into the Directive since 2000, and you can download the consolidated version in all EU languages here.

However, even after reading the Directive, you may have still questions, such as: What is this Directive about? What do I need to know about the Directive? What is currently happening in relation to the Directive?

Twelve “Water notes” which aim to give an introduction and overview of key aspects of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive are available to download in all EU languages !

General information

Specific legislation

Implementation

  • Common Implementation Strategy
    The Common Implementation Strategy for the EU Water Framework Directive – a unique process
  • Implementation Reports
    The Commission has to assess the progress in the implementation of the WFD in certain intervals and to inform the European Parliament, the Council and the public about the results of its assessments (see Article 18 WFD).

German law is shown in this area:

Water Framework Directive The status of German waters 2015

The European Water Framework Directive requires that rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters, and groundwater achieve “good status” by the year 2027 at the latest. The European Union has provided a clear timetable as well as three six-year management cycles for Member States to achieve that goal. This brochure presents the results from the first management period, shows the development since the year 2009 and provides an outlook on the beginning second management period. What status do our water bodies have today? What progress has been achieved in past years? What measures will be implemented in future? Who is supposed to carry them out and what will they cost?

"Trinkwasserverordnung in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 10. MÀrz 2016 (BGBl. I S. 459), die durch Artikel 4 Absatz 21 des Gesetzes vom 18. Juli 2016 (BGBl. I S. 1666) geÀndert worden ist"

Zweck der Verordnung ist es, die menschliche Gesundheit vor den nachteiligen EinflĂŒssen, die sich aus der Verunreinigung von Wasser ergeben, das fĂŒr den menschlichen Gebrauch bestimmt ist, durch GewĂ€hrleistung seiner Genusstauglichkeit und Reinheit nach Maßgabe der folgenden Vorschriften zu schĂŒtzen.
Stand:
Neugefasst durch Bek. v. 10.3.2016 I 459
GeÀndert durch Art. 4 Abs. 21 G v. 18.7.2016 I 1666
Mittelbare Änderung durch Art. 2 G v. 18.7.2016 I 1666 ist berĂŒcksichtigt

RICHTLINIE 2000/60/EG DES EUROPÄISCHEN PARLAMENTS UND DES RATES vom 23. Oktober 2000 zur Schaffung eines Ordnungsrahmens fĂŒr Maßnahmen der
Gemeinschaft im Bereich der Wasserpolitik

Ziel dieser Richtlinie ist die Schaffung eines Ordnungsrahmens fĂŒr den Schutz der BinnenoberflĂ€chengewĂ€sser, der ÜbergangsgewĂ€sser, der KĂŒstengewĂ€sser und des Grundwassers zwecks

a) Vermeidung einer weiteren Verschlechterung sowie Schutz und Verbesserung des Zustands der aquatischen Ökosysteme und der direkt von ihnen abhĂ€ngenden Landökosysteme und Feuchtgebiete im Hinblick auf deren Wasserhaushalt,

b) Förderung einer nachhaltigen Wassernutzung auf der Grundlage eines langfristigen Schutzes der vorhandenen Ressourcen,
c) Anstrebens eines stĂ€rkeren Schutzes und einer Verbesserung der aquatischen Umwelt, unter anderem durch spezifische Maßnahmen
zur schrittweisen Reduzierung von Einleitungen, Emissionen und Verlusten von prioritÀren Stoffen und durch die Beendigung oder schrittweise Einstellung von Einleitungen, Emissionen und Verlusten von prioritÀren gefÀhrlichen Stoffen;
d) Sicherstellung einer schrittweisen Reduzierung der Verschmutzung des Grundwassers und Verhinderung seiner weiteren Verschmut-
zung; und
e) Beitrag zur Minderung der Auswirkungen von Überschwemmungen und DĂŒrren,womit beigetragen werden soll
— zu einer ausreichenden Versorgung mit OberflĂ€chen- und Grundwasser guter QualitĂ€t, wie es fĂŒr eine nachhaltige, ausgewogene und gerechte Wassernutzung erforderlich ist;
— zu einer wesentlichen Reduzierung der Grundwasserverschmutzung;
— zum Schutz der HoheitsgewĂ€sser und der MeeresgewĂ€sser;
— zur Verwirklichung der Ziele der einschlĂ€gigen internationalen Übereinkommen einschließlich derjenigen, die auf die Vermeidung und Beseitigung der Verschmutzung der Meeresumwelt abzielen, durch Gemeinschaftsmaßnahmen gemĂ€ĂŸ Artikel 16 Absatz 3 zur Beendigung oder schrittweisen Einstellung von Einleitungen, Emissionen oder Verlusten von prioritĂ€ren gefĂ€hrlichen Stoffen, und zwar mit dem Endziel, in der Meeresumwelt fĂŒr natĂŒrlich anfallende Stoffe Konzentrationen in der NĂ€he der Hintergrundwerte und fĂŒr anthropogene synthetische Stoffe Konzentrationen nahe Null zu erreichen.