The European Commission has defined the guidelines for the monitoring and analysis of PFAS and microplastics in drinking water in the EU, as required by the Drinking Water Directive (DWD) EU 2184/2020. An in-depth analysis.
1) Drinking water, PFAS and microplastics in the European Union
Drinking water is found to be contaminated by PFAS – toxic, carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals (1), known as ‘forever chemicals’ due to their extreme resistance to degradation – at high levels:
-in at least 16 regions of Italy (in the absence of data on the 4 remaining regions); (2,3) and
-in various European countries, from Sweden to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. (4)
Microplastics – themselves suspected of causing serious health damage, including genotoxicity (5,6), and widely distributed in inland surface water ecosystems (7) – have even been detected in some mineral waters. (8).
2) Drinking Water Directive (DWD)
Drinking Water Directive EU 2184/2020 considers PFAS and microplastics, like other endocrine disruptors (i.e. BPA), as ’emerging pollutants’, although their diffusion and toxicity have been known for several years. (9)
The directive has therefore provided for their monitoring (10,11). However, it has so far neglected them in the checklist of substances to be monitored at Union level in the field of water policy. (12)
WHO (World Health Organization), if you look closely, had already highlighted an emerging risk of food safety linked to the contamination of water resources by microplastics in 2019. It recommended that its 194 member states activate monitoring and risk assessment. (13)
3) PFAS, EU guidelines for monitoring drinking water
The European Commission guidelines of the European Commission for the monitoring of PFAS in drinking water have been developed on the basis of a technical and socio-economic assessment, submitted to consultation of Member States and published in August 2024.
The document includes the analytical methods and approaches considered most appropriate for the monitoring of PFAS parameters in drinking water and indicates:
– the limit values that Member States will have to respect, by 12 January 2026, equal to
-0,5 µg/l for ‘PFAS Total’ and 0,1 µg/l for ‘Sum of PFAS’
-the possibility for Member States to use one or both of the aforementioned parameters (14)
4) Microplastics, measurement method in drinking water
The decision Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1441 in turn allows Member States to measure microplastics in drinking water using a harmonised method. (15)
The use of the same analytical method will allow to compare the levels of microplastics in different water supply chains, with a view to their inclusion in the watchlist of substances to be monitored. (12)
5) Monitoring and corrective actions
‘If they are detected such substances or compounds included in the control list, (…) in concentrations exceeding the indicative values set out in the control list, Member States shall ensure that all the following measures are taken into account and the measures deemed relevant are taken:
(a) adopt prevention measures, mitigation measures or carry out adequate monitoring in the catchment areas for abstraction points or in raw waters (…);
(b) require water suppliers to monitor such substances or compounds (…);
(c) require water suppliers to verify that treatment is adequate to achieve the indicative value or, if necessary, to optimise the treatment; and
(d) take corrective measures to restore the quality of water intended for human consumption, where Member States deem this necessary to protect human health’ (DWD, Article 13, monitoring, paragraph 7,8).
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Marta Strinati. PFAS substances are carcinogenic, IARC confirms. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 3.12.23
(2) Marta Strinati. PFAS in the waters of 16 regions. Emergency in Veneto. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.5.24
(3) Marta Strinati, Ylenia Desiree Patti Giamello. PFAS pollution, almost four thousand more deaths in 30 Veneto municipalities. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.6.24
(4) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. PFAS in rainwater and food, a global ban is urgently needed. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.8.22
(5) Paola Palestini, Dario Dongo. Microplastics and human health, the invisible evil. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 28.3.19
(6) Marta Strinati. Microplastics, new evidence of genotoxicity on freshwater shrimp. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.5.23
(7) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Microplastics in the water of Italian lakes, the silent emergency. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5.7.20
(8) Marta Strinati. Microplastics in mineral water. The French report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 3.8.22
(9) European Commission, DG Environment. Drinking water https://tinyurl.com/34ndcmc5
(10) Dario Dongo and Ylenia Patti Giammello. Drinking water, the universal right and the EU directive. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.7.21
(11) Giulia Pietrollini. Implementation of EU Directive 2020/2184 on drinking water management. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 31.3.23
(12) Dario Dongo and Ylenia Patti Giammello. Water pollution. Antibiotics, drugs, pesticides in the new EU monitoring plan. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(13) Marta Strinati. Microplastics in drinking water, WHO calls for risk assessment. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 22.8.19
(14) Commission Notice – Technical guidelines regarding methods of analysis for monitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water intended for human consumption https://tinyurl.com/mrx56rfe
(15) Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 supplementing Directive (EU) 2020/2184 by laying down a methodology to measure microplastics in water intended for human consumption https://tinyurl.com/2p9w7knc
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
