CELEX: 51985PC0733
Language: en
Date: 1985-12-18
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES FOR CHROMIUM

31. 12. 85                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                              No C 351/33
                           Proposal for a Council Directive on water quality objectives for chromium
                                                       COM(85) 733 final
                                                          (85/C 351/11)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            national p r o g r a m m e s to reduce c h r o m i u m pollution of
                                                                    water.
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100                  2.       T h i s Directive shall apply to the w a t e r s referred t o in
and 235 thereof,                                                    Article 1 of Directive 7 6 / 4 6 4 / E E C , with the exception of
                                                                    g r o u n d w a t e r , w a t e r intended for h u m a n c o n s u m p t i o n a n d
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  surface w a t e r intended for the abstraction of drinking
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,            water.
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
                                                                                                          Article 2
Committee,
Whereas, in order to protect the aquatic environment of the         For the purposes of this Directive,
Community from pollution by certain dangerous subst-                (a) 'chromium'             means:
ances, Article 7 of Council Directive 76/464/EEC (])
provides for the establishment by the Member States of                     — elemental chromium,
programmes to reduce pollution by the substances in List II
in the Annex thereto; whereas Article 7 (7) provides for                   — any chromium compound;
comparison of the national programmes for the purpose of            (b) 'dissolved             chromium'         means water containing
coordinating their implementation and for Commission                       chromium able to pass through a 0,45 micrometre
proposals in this connection;                                              pore-size filter;
Whereas chromium is included in List II;                            (c) 'programmes' means the programmes established by
                                                                           the Member States to reduce chromium pollution of
Whereas the national programmes to reduce pollution                        water, as provided for by Article 7 (1) of Directive 76/
must include quality objectives for water and set deadlines                464/EEC.
for their implementation;
Whereas it is necessary to specify a reference method of                                                  Article 3
measurement for chromium to ensure sufficient compar-
ability of the results of these programmes communicated to          1.       The national programmes must contain quality
the Commission;                                                     objectives which are at least as strict as the requirements
                                                                    listed in Annex I.
Whereas the Commission should report regularly on the
implementation of this Directive by the Member States;              2.       The reference method of measurement to be used in
                                                                    determining the presence of chromium is given in Annex II.
Whereas the quality objectives for water intended for               Other methods may be used provided that the limits of
human consumption and for surface water intended for the            detection, precision and accuracy of such methods are at
abstraction of drinking water have already been laid down           least as exacting as those laid down in Annex II (3).
in Council Directives 80/778/EEC (2) and 75/440/EEC (?)
respectively; whereas these waters can therefore be
excluded from the scope of this Directive;                                                                Article 4
Whereas groundwater is the subject of Council Directive             Member States shall adapt their programmes in accordance
80/68/EEC (4) and can therefore be excluded from the                with this Directive by 15 September 1986. Implementation
scope of this Directive;                                            of the programmes shall be completed by 15 Sep-
                                                                    tember 1991.
Whereas the Treaty has not provided certain of the
necessary powers,
                                                                                                          Article 5
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                                                    1.       Member States shall communicate to the Commis-
                                                                    sion summaries of programmes pursuant to Article 7 (6) of
                             Article 1                              Directive 76/464/EEC with respect to chromium by
                                                                    15 September 1986.
1.    This Directive, in pursuance of Article 7 of Directive        2.       Member States shall communicate to the Commis-
76/464/EEC, lays down the procedures for coordination of            sion the results of the implementation of the programmes
                                                                    pursuant to Article 7 (6) of Directive 76/464/EEC with
(•) OJ No L 129, 18. 5. 1976, p. 23.                                respect to chromium by 15 September 1992.
(2) OJ No L 229, 30. 8. 1980, p. 11.
(3) OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 26.                                3.       The Commission shall examine the implementation
(4) OJ No L 20, 26. 1. 1980, p. 43.                                 of national programmes on the basis of the information
 ---pagebreak--- No C 351/34                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                       31. 12. 85
received and shall make periodic reports to the Council and               2.    Member States shall communicate to the Commis-
the European Parliament beginning in 1993 and at nine-                    sion without delay the text of the provisions of national law
yearly intervals thereafter. If it sees fit, the Commission               which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive,
may submit relevant proposals to the Council in the light of
these reports.
                            Article 6                                                                 Article 7
1.    Member States shall take the measures necessary to
comply with this Directive by 15 September 1986.                          This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                 ANNEX I
                The programmes to reduce chromium pollution of water shall include quality objectives for the waters
                                                              specified below:
             The competent authority shall select from among the quality objectives listed in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 the
             objective or objectives that it deems appropriate having regard to the intended use of the area in question.
             1.   The concentration of dissolved chromium in fresh water capable of supporting fish life and other aquatic
                  fauna and flora shall not exceed the following values, depending on water hardness:
                           Water hardness
                                                         Up to 50          50 to 100        100 to 200          Over 200
                            (mg/1 CaC0 3 )
                 Dissolved Chromium (ug/1)                  5                 10                20                50
             2.   In order to protect marine fauna and flora, the concentration of dissolved chromium in seawater must not
                  exceed 15 ug/1.
             3.   The content of chromium in fresh water and/or seawater sediments and/or shellfish must not increase
                  significantly in the course of time.
                  With the exception of the quality objective indicated in paragraph 1, all concentrations relate to the
                  arithmetic mean of the results obtained over one year.
                                                                 ANNEX II
                                                    Reference method of measurement
                  The definitions included in Council Directive 79/869/EEC concerning the methods of measurement and
                  frequencies of sampling and analysis of surface water intended for the abstraction of drinking water in the
                  Member States (]) shall apply in the framework of this Directive.
                  The reference method of measurement used for determing the chromium content of waters is atomic
                  absorption spectrophotometry after preservation and suitable treatment of the sample.
                  The limits of detection shall be such that the chromium concentration can be measured to an accuracy of
                  30 % and a precision of 20 % at a concentration of 5 ug/1 or one-tenth of the chromium concentration
                  specified in the quality objective, whichever is the greater.
             (!) OJ No L 271, 29. 10. 1979, p. 44.