New responsibilities for building owners and managers. Mandatory risk assessments every six years.

• Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not yet transposed the 2020 Directive on drinking water quality.
• The draft amendment to the act that implements it – on collective water supply and collective sewage disposal and certain other acts – prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, is finally to be submitted to the government for consideration and then to the Sejm.

• The regulations cover, among other things, the assessment of water leakage volume and its limitation, the performance of risk assessments in the area of water intakes, and the testing and sharing of water quality results.

• Building managers are obliged to assess the risks in internal water supply systems, and municipalities are obliged to ensure universal access to drinking water for the population, as required by the EU directive.

On June 30, 2025, the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers adopted a draft bill amending the Act on Collective Water Supply and Collective Sewage Disposal and certain other acts, which transposes the EU Directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption. The draft bill is awaiting government consideration, and once approved, it will be submitted to the Sejm for consideration.

In a letter to the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Piotr Malepszak, insists that the matter be treated as very urgent and that the project be immediately considered at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers.

The justification for this is that the deadline for Poland to implement the directive expired on January 12, 2023, and the European Commission has decided to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union . Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not yet transposed the directive.

1. The draft law, among other things, specifies the obligations of water suppliers, including testing the quality of water intended for human consumption in the scope of internal water quality control.
2. It clarifies the competences of the State Sanitary Inspection bodies and the procedures for supervising water quality , including monitoring its quality, determining its suitability and processing applications for consent for derogations from water quality requirements.
3. The draft law also includes an obligation for water suppliers to carry out risk assessments in water intake areas (for the first time by 31 December 2026) and risk assessments in water supply systems (for the first time by 30 June 2028) and to take measures to manage these risks.
4. There is also an obligation for building owners or managers (excluding single-family residential buildings) to carry out risk assessments in internal water supply systems (for the first time by 30 June 2028), and then every 6 years to review and possibly update them .
5. It is also assumed that units authorized to assess and verify materials and products in contact with water intended for human consumption will be established, which involves imposing obligations on various groups of entities.

   The composition of manufactured materials will have to comply with European guidelines, and compliance assessments will be conducted by an accredited body. The regulations will also cover water treatment chemicals and filter materials.

6. A separate issue concerns the responsibilities of water suppliers (particularly water and sewage companies and water wholesalers), the Polish Waters National Water Management Authority, and the Minister of Water Management. This includes assessing the extent of water leaks and developing plans to mitigate them.

The draft bill's proposed procedures and obligations for municipal authorities or their organizational units to identify individuals or groups of people deprived of, or with limited access to, water may pose a significant challenge. In collaboration with water suppliers, actions are to be taken to improve their situation.

The Act provides for the regulation of the obligations of water suppliers to inform consumers about the quality, prices and consumption of water and specifies the methods for providing this information.