Recital (14) · Directive (EU) 2026/805

(14)A combination of source-control and end-of-pipe measures is required to effectively deal with most pollutants across their life cycle, including, as relevant, chemical design, authorisation or approval, control of emissions during manufacturing and use or other processes, and waste handling. The setting of new or stricter quality standards in water bodies therefore complements and is coherent with other Union legislation that addresses or could address the pollution problem at one or more of those stages, including Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^note, Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006^note and (EC) No 1107/2009^note of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 2009/128/EC^note and 2010/75/EU^note of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulations (EU) No 528/2012^note and (EU) 2019/6^note of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2024/3019. In order to achieve the environmental objectives laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2000/60/EC in the most cost-effective way possible, the Commission and the Member States should prioritise, where possible, in their actions and programmes of measures, respectively, source-control measures, as well as their enforcement. Coherence between all pieces of Union and national legislation addressing pollutant emissions at source should be ensured in order to reduce pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems.

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Defined terms · 10

Show every defined term

Deterioration of the status of a body of water
means the lowering of the status of at least one of the quality elements, within the meaning of Annex V, by one class, even if that lowering does not result in a fall in the classification of the body of water as a whole;
Effect-based trigger value
means a threshold for the effects of a pollutant or group of pollutants in water, sediment or biota, where those effects are measured by an appropriate and scientifically validated effect-based monitoring method, above which adverse effects on human health or the environment from that pollutant or group of pollutants in water, sediment or biota, could occur.’
Environmental quality standard
means the concentration of a particular pollutant or group of pollutants in water, sediment or biota not to be exceeded in order to protect human health and the environment.’
Good surface water chemical status
means the chemical status required to meet the environmental objectives for surface waters set out in Article 4(1)(a) of this Directive, that is the chemical status achieved by a body of surface water in which concentrations of pollutants exceed neither the environmental quality standards for priority substances listed in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council nor the environmental quality standards for river basin specific pollutants set and applied in accordance with Article 8d of that Directive, and in which effect-based trigger values, where available, are also not exceeded.
indicator of pollution
means a parameter which can be monitored to give a value that is representative of the level or concentration of a pollutant or a group of pollutants and thus of the risk posed by them.’
Priority hazardous substances
means priority substances which are identified as “hazardous” in accordance with the legislation referred to in Article 16(3).
Priority substances
means substances listed in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC, that are substances which present a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment and are prioritised in accordance with Article 16(2) of this Directive.’
River basin specific pollutants
means pollutants that are not or no longer identified as priority substances, but which Member States have identified, on the basis of the assessment of pressures and impacts on surface water bodies carried out in accordance with Annex II, as being discharged or deposited in significant quantities into a river basin or sub-basin and thus posing a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment within their territory.’
threshold value
means a groundwater quality standard established at Union level and listed in Annex II part D or established by Member States in accordance with Article 3(1)(b);’
Water intended for human consumption
means water intended for human consumption as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council.