EUROPEAN DRINKING WATER

Initiative

The continuous supply of clean drinking water is a fundamental human right and the protection of human health from adverse effects of drinking water quality is a top priority worldwide.

Requirements for the abstraction, treatment and distribution of drinking water to ensure safe drinking water quality have a long history in many parts of the world. The materials used in treatment and distribution systems that are in direct contact with drinking water are of particular importance. Unsuitable materials can impair the quality of drinking water by releasing harmful substances into the drinking water or promoting the growth of microorganisms that are dangerous to humans.

In the European Union, general material requirements were regulated for the first time in Article 10 of the EU Drinking Water Directive (Directive 98/83/EC) of November 3, 1998, but their implementation and monitoring was delegated to the individual member states. National legislators were therefore obliged to take all necessary measures to ensure that materials and products used in drinking water treatment and distribution do not have any direct or indirect harmful effects on human health.

Unfortunately, the implementation efforts of the EU Member States to fulfill these requirements have not been coordinated, resulting in a multitude of different national requirements for the use of materials and products that come into contact with drinking water. Currently, more than 15 different certification and testing organizations within the European Union regulate the approval of products and materials that are suitable for use with drinking water. As a result, there is currently no common EU standard for the protection of human health.

Compliance with all test criteria in the respective member states is an extremely complex and time-consuming process for product manufacturers and is often associated with unnecessary financial burdens. In addition, Member States often refuse market access to products that are legally marketed in other Member States, which goes against the principle of mutual recognition laid down in the EU Treaties. All of these aspects ultimately lead to significant obstacles to the free movement of products that come into contact with drinking water within the EU.

A consortium of industry associations was established

Against this backdrop, the „Industry Consortium for Products in Contact with Drinking Water (ICPCDW)“ was established in 2015, an association of European associations representing the industries that manufacture and supply products used in drinking water applications.
The aim of the ICPCDW was to eliminate the diversity of national requirements for materials and products used in drinking water applications so that every manufacturer in the EU can use the same test methods for product approval, that a single test report is produced that is suitable for all EU member states and that the approved products are mutually recognized throughout the EU.

The ICPCDW’s strategy has been to work with the EU and national regulatory authorities to create a viable regulatory basis for harmonized procedures for the assessment and certification of materials in contact with drinking water.

The initiative grows, new structures were established and its name was changed

Over the following years, the initiative grew to more than 30 member associations. New working structures had to be established so that the work could be carried out efficiently and in a targeted manner to achieve the goal that still applies today. The somewhat unwieldy name ICPCDW was changed to „European Drinking Water“. Today, the initiative has established itself as the main industry contact and is also represented as an observer in the EU Commission’s Drinking Water Expert Group.