Water is the source of life. Abundant and clean water is essential for all life forms. Widespread use of pesticides is a threat to our water. At the moment, only 38% of surface waters in Europe are considered to have a healthy chemical status. Recent reports suggest we are rowing backwards.
One in four pesticides are toxic to water life, many can pollute our drinking water. Some problematic pesticides have been banned, but were replaced by others. While regulations like the EU Water Framework Directive and Drinking Water Directive are meant to protect us, they fail to do their job so far. Recent reports show an EU wide presence of TFA, the breakdown product of PFAS pesticides. The EU licence to use water polluting glyphosate has been renewed till 2038. And many ‘candidates for substitution’ that should have been banned years ago are widely used and very toxic to aquatic life. The imminent lack of clean water is a threat to biodiversity, a problem for farmers and endangers our drinking water supplies. Water companies are worried. Many pollutants cannot be removed and ultimately the costs are passed on to consumers.
A history of problematic pesticides
Each time a problematic pesticide is proven to pollute our water – often after many years of destructive use – it is replaced by another. The use of old and now banned problematic herbicides atrazine and isoproturon was replaced with the use of other problematic ones like bentazon, the PFAS flufenacet, diuron, MCPA and glyphosate. In Denmark the fungicide cyazofamid was allowed to pollute the water for 18 years. In 2023 the authorities decided to finally ban the substance to protect the groundwater. France decided to ban the herbicide s-metolachlor, widely used in maize production, when it was clear that it pollutes water all over the country. An EU wide ban was decided in May 2024. But other pesticides continue to pollute our waters.
The EU regulations that should protect our water
The main pieces of legislation relevant to pesticides are:
- The Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Directive 2000/60/EC) is a comprehensive and uniform directive that applies to all member states and helps ensure the quality and protection of all waters (inland, surface, coastal, groundwater, and transitional waters).
- The Groundwater Directive (Directive 2006/118/EC) is a subdirective of the WFD which aims towards the same objectives, only with the limited scope of groundwaters.
- The Environmental Quality Standards Directive (Directive 2008/105/EC) lays down environmental quality standards (EQS) for priority substances and certain other pollutants as provided by the WFD, aiming to achieve good surface water chemicals.
In October 2023, the European Commission presented its proposal for a Directive amending these laws. The EU Parliament decided on a position with important improvements. But in June 2024 the EU Member States came up with an extremely weak position. They propose to push back the legal deadline to comply with the new pollution standards to 2039, with possibilities to further delay until 2051. This position allows toxic business as usual and completely ignores the serious threats to our water. The trilogue discussion between EU Commission, Member States and Parliament should lead to a final agreement at the end of 2024.
Closing the pollution tap
Replacing the use of one problematic pesticide by another is no solution. The widespread use of pesticides and especially herbicides should stop to protect our water. A ban of all problematic pesticides and progress towards more modern ways of agriculture that respect nature, soil and water are the only real solutions to ensure healthy water for us and future generations.
Relevant articles and actions by PAN Europe and members and partners for clean water
The EU Member States’ attack on water protection (to be published Tuesday 24th of July)
EU-Wide Drinking Water Testing Finds Forever Chemical TFA in 94 % of Samples (July 2024)
Widespread Water Contamination by ‘Forever Breakdown Product’ of PFAS Pesticides (May 2024)
New report exposes hidden threat: PFAS presence in pesticides (November 2023)
Water pollution: Updating EU regulations. What happened, what it means and what remains to be done (October 2023)
EU bans 6 dangerous pesticides: Herbicide S-Metolachlor and 5 Endocrine Disruptors (October 2023)
Glyphosate pollution threatens European surface waters: Ban glyphosate to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems (September 2023)
Will the EU prolong the use of a Toxic 12 and a PFAS pesticide? (July 2023)
France plans to ban S-metolachlor (February 2023)
Denmark to ban groundwater polluting fungicide - after 18 years of use (January 2023)
