Report from the Commission. Synthesis report on the quality of drinking water in the Union examining Member States’ reports for the 2011-2013 period, foreseen under Article 13(5) of Directive 98/83/EC

The Drinking Water Directive aims to ensure that water intended for human consumption is safe. The Directive requires that drinking water must be free of any microorganisms, parasite or substance that could potentially endanger human health by setting standards for the most common potentially harmful organisms and substances that can be found in drinking water.

Member States are obliged under the Drinking Water Directive to monitor on a regular basis the quality of the drinking water that is supplied to consumers, and to report triennially the monitoring results to the Commission. This synthesis report gives a summary of the drinking water quality in EU Member States in 2011-2013. It fulfils the obligation of the Commission under Article 13(5) of the Directive to examine the Member States' reports and to publish every three years a synthesis report on the quality of drinking water in the EU.

The information provided in this report covers all Member States except one: Croatia was exempted from the current reporting obligation, as it joined the EU in mid-2013, which was close to the end of this reporting period.

The Directive makes a distinction between large and small water supplies. Large water supplies provide either more than 1,000 m³ drinking water per day as an average or serve more than 5,000 persons. The minimum water quality requirements are equal for both large and small supplies, but the reporting obligations apply only to large supplies. Accordingly, this synthesis report summarises the drinking water quality in large supplies.

Nevertheless, during the data collection exercise, 15 Member States also provided on a voluntary basis information on small water supply zones (supplying less than 1,000m³/day). An overall EU assessment of compliance in small supplies was not considered meaningful as the data available was not fully representative for the entire EU and therefore this information is not included in the present report.

According to the information provided by these 15 Member States the overall compliance is on average 98% high and no major problems are indicated. However, the Commission considers that additional information is needed to get a better picture of the exact situation and will therefore look into this further. Where Member States provided information on small supplies, this information is summarised at the end of the each country sheet. Country sheets providing more detailed information per Member State are available on the Commission's DG Environment website.