Water Environmental Quality Standards

In July 2006, the EU Commission published a proposal for a Directive on Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) as required under article 16 of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) (WFD). Specifically, the Commission has now identified a list of 33 substances of concern (Table 1—from Annex 2 of the Directive), for which measures should be taken for ‘… the progressive reduction and, for priority hazardous substances, … the cessation or phasing out of discharges, emissions and losses.’