Quality of Drinking Water in the EU
Public Consultation – Questionnaire

Quality of Drinking Water in the EU
Introduction
In its Communication on the European Citizens' Initiative "Right2Water", COM(2014)177 final, the
Commission announced its intention to launch an EU-wide public consultation on the Drinking Water
Directive, notably in view of improving access to quality drinking water in the EU. It also invited the Member
States to step up their efforts to guarantee the provision of clean, safe, and wholesome water for human
consumption, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation.
The aim of this consultation is to get a better understanding of citizens’ views on the need and the possible
range of actions which could be undertaken in order to improve the supply with high quality drinking water.
The results of the consultation will be used as input to decide if and where the EU Drinking Water Directive
98/83/EC might need improvement.
This questionnaire also takes up other issues raised by the above-mentioned European Citizens' Initiative, for
example affordability, which go beyond the scope of the current Drinking Water Directive and may need to be
addressed through other EU or national instruments or initiatives.
The consultation runs from 23.06.2014 until 23.09.2014.
In addition to completing the questionnaire all stakeholders (including national authorities, international
organisations, non-governmental organisations and other interested parties or individual citizens) can submit
their position papers on the issues addressed in this questionnaire to the Commission services to:
ENV-DRINKING-WATER@ec.europa.eu
Background
'Drinking water' covers all water intended for human consumption or other domestic purposes. The 'Drinking
Water Directive' aims at the protection of human health from the adverse effects of any contamination. It
ensures that water at the consumer tap is wholesome and clean. Natural mineral waters are excluded.
Bottled water including natural mineral water has to satisfy the requirements of food law.
For more information, the full text of the Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC directive is available in all official
languages on:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31998L0083
Further background information: Commission Report COM(2014)363 final "Synthesis Report on the Quality of
Drinking Water in the EU examining the Member States' reports for the period 2008-2010 under Directive
98/83/EC" on: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/reporting_en.html

Please note that the first questions are of general nature, whereas replies to question 4 onwards sometimes
require prior knowledge of the Drinking Water Directive. Please feel free to answer only those relevant to you.
The estimated time to complete the questionnaire is about 15 minutes.
Thank you very much for taking the time to contribute to this consultation.

Information about you
I am replying as a(n):

Individual/citizen/consumer
Stakeholder/expert
Please specify:

Sectoral representative: Water Utilities / Providers (drinking water and sanitation)
Non-governmental organisation (NGO)
Other association
Academic/scientist
National authority (responsible for drinking water)
National authorities (other)
Local/regional authority (responsible for drinking water)
Local/regional authorities (other)
European Institution
International body
Other (please specify)
Please specify your sector:

Only Drinking Water Utilities / Provider
Only Sanitation Utilities / Provider
Food Industry and other companies using drinking water
Other sector (please specify)
Please specify other sector:

Please specify other stakeholder/expert

If responding on behalf of a(n) organisation/association/authority/company/body, please provide the name

Your country/ies :

AT - Austria
BE - Belgium
BG - Bulgaria
CY - Cyprus
CZ - Czech Republic
DE - Germany
DK - Denmark
EE - Estonia
EL - Greece
ES - Spain
FI - Finland
FR - France
HR Croatia
HU - Hungary
IE - Ireland
IT - Italy
LT - Lithuania
LU - Luxembourg
LV - Latvia
MT - Malta
NL - Netherlands
PL - Poland
PT - Portugal
RO - Romania
SE - Sweden
SI - Slovenia
SK - Slovakia
UK - United Kingdom
Other (please specify)
Other country

Do you live in an urbanised or a rural area?

Urbanised
Rural
Don't know/Not applicable

Do you know whether your household belongs to a large water supply zone (serving more than 5000 persons) or
to a small water supply zone (serving less than 5000 persons)?

Large
Small
Don't know/Not applicable

Multiple-Choice Questions
All following multiple-choice questions or statements are formulated in such a way that you can indicate the
level of agreement or disagreement with the question or statement.
Please assess all the questions or statements and indicate your opinion. In most cases, the response options
are: “agree”, "neither agree nor disagree/neutral", “disagree", or “don't know/not applicable”.

1. Your drinking water quality
These statements are designed to get an idea on the knowledge that you have on your drinking water which
you are using.
I am well informed about the quality of my drinking water
agree

neither agree/nor disagree

disagree

don't know/not applicable

I

I use drinking water at my home for
always

drinking directly from the
tap
drinking after filtering it
drinking after boiling it
cooking directly from the
tap
cooking after filtering it
washing/personal hygiene

2. Access to drinking water

most of the

not or

don't know/not

time

rarely

applicable

These statements request your opinion on how you judge the situation in the EU on issues raised by the
European Citizens Initiative Right2Water (http://www.right2water.eu/), in particular in relation to accessibility,
affordability, acceptability (in terms of quality) of drinking water.
2.1 Accessibility
neither
agree

agree/nor

don't
disagree

disagree

know/not
applicable

Where I live, access to wholesome and clean
drinking water is good
In the EU overall, the way I see it, access to
wholesome and clean
drinking water is good

agree

Where I live, the connection to the supply network is
good
In the EU overall, the way I see it, the connection to the
supply
network is good

If you tick disagree, please explain your reply:

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

2.2 Affordability

agree

neither/nor

disagree

agree

neither/nor

disagree

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

Where I live, the price of drinking water (for consumers)
is affordable
In the EU overall, the way I see it, the price of drinking
water (for
consumers) is affordable

don't
know

Where I live, drinking water services (customer
services, security of
supply, …) are good value for money
In the EU overall, the way I see it, drinking water
services (customer
services, security of supply, …) are good value for
money

If you tick disagree, please explain your reply:

2.3 Acceptability

Where I live, the quality of drinking water is good
(wholesome and clean)
In the EU overall, the way I see it, the quality of drinking
water is
good (wholesome and clean)

don't
know

agree

neither/nor

Where I live, the sensation (perceived, subjective
quality) of drinking
water is good (i.e. wholesome as regards taste, odour,
turbidity, hardness,…)
In the EU overall, the way I see it, the sensation of
drinking water is
good (i.e. wholesome as regards taste, odour, turbidity,
hardness,…)

If you tick disagree, please explain your reply:

3. Threats to drinking water
I consider the following pollution sources a threat to drinking water quality:

disagree

don't
know

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

Pollution from natural sources (such as minerals)
Pollution from agriculture (such as pesticides, fertilisers
and faecal pollution)
Pollution from exploration or exploitation of
hydrocarbons (such as oil, shale gas, etc)
Pollution from industrial sources (such as heavy metals,
solvents, additives, or other chemicals which may be
hazardous)
Pollution from human consumption and inadequate
wastewater treatment (such as ammonium, nitrates,
pharmaceuticals, chlorine, detergents, or other products
used in the household, …)
Substances from materials in direct contact with
drinking water (such as contaminants leaching from
pipes, ducts, fittings, taps…)
Threats to drinking water quality due to impacts of
climate change (such
as those caused by floods, droughts, water scarcity …)
Other threats or other pollution sources (please specify)

Please specify other threats or sources:

4. Quality standards in the Drinking Water Directive
The Drinking Water Directive, introduced in 1980 and revised in 1998, regulates 48 individual microbiological,
chemical, and indicator parameters with corresponding limit values. When reviewing the list of these
parameters, I consider the following actions most appropriate…

agree

neither/nor

disagree

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

No change to current regime is necessary; the current
list is kept, and limit values are reflecting the latest
scientific evidence (which is required by the Directive)
Restrict the list to a few key parameters most relevant
for human health.
Revise and extend the list of parameters, e.g. to
consider new and emerging pollutants, if there are
possible effects on human health and if this does not
lead to a significant increase in the price of water.
Revise and extend the list of parameters, e.g. to
consider new and
emerging pollutants, if there are possible effects on
human health and even if this leads to a significant
increase in the price of water.

Please indicate other new parameters to be considered:

Faecal matter, pathogenic germs, parasites, viruses etc.
which are not
yet covered
Naturally produced toxic substances (e.g. by algae)
Substances used in consumer products (e.g.
plasticisers, persistent organic pollutants)
Pharmaceutical substances including birth control
substances, etc.
Endocrine disrupting substances
Other parameters (please specify)

Please specify other parameters:

5. Monitoring and control of Drinking Water

don't
know

Competent water authorities have to analyse and monitor drinking water to ensure its quality. The current
Drinking Water Directive sets minimum frequencies for sampling and analyses and requires appropriate
check and audit monitoring programmes to be established by the competent water authorities. Compliance
has to be checked at the point at which drinking water emerges, therefore monitoring goes up to consumer
taps. Currently, possible ways towards a 'risk-based approach' are under exploration in the EU, meaning that
monitoring is intensified in case of problems, but stepped down if not really necessary. The 'risk-based
approach can be managed through 'water safety plans' see WHO page: http://www.who.int/wsportal/en/). In
relation to monitoring and control of drinking water, I consider the following action as most appropriate....

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

No action is necessary because the level of monitoring
and control efforts is adequate
Monitoring and control efforts should be reduced
because the costs outweigh the health benefits
Monitoring should be more frequent, provided this does
not lead to a significant increase in the price of water
Monitoring should be more frequent, even if this leads
to a significant increase in the price of water
Monitoring should be more transparent, and results
should be available
online
Other (please specify)

Please specify others:

6. Content of consumer information
The current Drinking Water Directive already requires competent authorities to make drinking water-related
information available to consumers but is not explicit about the type of information.
Below you find five options reaching from simple to sophisticated levels of information. Please rank the level
of importance and tick 'agree' only once, agreeing to the most appropriate level of information you would like
to have:

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

Easily understandable information to all that drinking
water quality is compliant (water quality ok)
Simplified information intelligible to all summarising
water quality aspects (a label with colours, a flag, an
index, etc.)
Basic quality aspects (some parameters as for bottled
water/mineral
water)
All detailed information from each analysis and all
parameters that are
being monitored should be made available
All detailed information from each analysis and all
parameters should be
made available and it should be indicated for each
parameter whether it meets the legal requirements
Others (please specify)

Please specify other aspects the consumer should be informed of:

7. Ways to inform consumers
EU countries have to ensure that up-to-date information of water quality is made available to consumers.
Different practices can be found throughout the EU (see inter alia the national web pages:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/national_info_en.html). I consider that the following action
should be taken to inform consumers …

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

No action is necessary because the current information
provisions are
adequate
More up-to-date information should be made available
online
All monitored up-to-date information should be made
available online
New information tools (e.g. SMS, Apps,…) should be
used more actively to
disseminate drinking water information where
necessary
In addition to information on my water supply,
dissemination and
inter-linkage of information to national or Europe-wide
information provisions should be enhanced, up to
visualisation tools using spatial data
Others (please specify)

Please specify other information ways:

8. Actions in case of problems
In case of failures to meet the quality standards, Member States are required by the current Directive to take
remedial action. This action depends on the extent to which the relevant parametric value has been
exceeded and the potential danger to human health, and include actions to restore as soon as possible the
drinking water quality, to impose restrictions on the use of supplies, or to use alternative supplies. I consider
that EU legislation should strive for the following actions ...

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

No additional actions should be taken because the
current provisions are
adequate
The current regime for taking remedial action is too
restrictive and overly protective
Water supplies should be closed whenever failures are
found, and free
supply of drinking water by bottles, containers, tankers
should be granted
Remedial action should be supplemented by additional
preventive action, i.e. by antagonising critical trends,
long before a near miss or failure
Requirements for prompt notification of consumers in
case of failures using modern communication tools
should be introduced
Others (please specify)

Please specify other actions:

9. Derogations
The current Directive allowed Member States to grant derogations for individual water supplies for up to 9
years provided such derogation does not constitute a potential danger to human health. For the future, I
consider that the possibility of granting derogations should be regulated in the following way…

agree

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

No action is necessary because the status quo for
derogations should be
maintained
Derogations should not be allowed at all, even if this
may require
alternative supplies which may lead to higher costs
The current derogations should be extended to be
allowed for a further
transition period
A new derogations regime should be introduced to a
limited extent and
under strict conditions
Others (please specify)

Please specify others:

10. Further aspects
The current EU legislation allows for additional actions to be taken at national level. Are there aspects which
should be subject to EU rules in relation to drinking water? I consider that other aspects or additional action
should be taken at EU level, in particular the following...

agree

Drinking water regulations should cover the entire
supply process and not be limited to quality standards
at the tap
Drinking water treatment should be regulated similar to
food production installations referring to the hazard
analysis and critical control points (HACCP) preventive
approach
Further provisions as regards extended responsibility
and liability of water suppliers or market
surveillance/inspection regimes should be taken into
account
Materials in contact with drinking water (pipes, ducts,
valves, fittings, filters, taps…) should be regulated in a
more harmonised way
Aspects of water use and water re-use in households
and food industry should be addressed explicitly
Additional incentives to save drinking water should be
introduced
Other aspects should be addressed (please specify)

Please specify other aspects:

neither/nor

disagree

don't
know

If you have any additional comments, please provide them in the box below (max. 1000 characters).