New obligations for 2,477 municipalities. They will have to provide high-quality water

• On Wednesday, 18 June, the European Commission submitted a complaint to the CJEU against Poland for failing to implement the so-called Drinking Water Directive.
• Poland was obliged to transpose this directive into national law and comply with its provisions by 12 January 2023.
• The draft amendment implementing the directive is at the stage of the Legal Committee. It obliges municipalities, among other things, to monitor water quality, identify groups without access to water, determine the causes and take remedial measures, and inform about the possibility of connecting to the water supply network.

On Wednesday, 18 June , the European Commission submitted a complaint to the CJEU against Poland for failing to implement the so-called Drinking Water Directive.

In accordance with Article 24 of this Directive of 16 December 2020 (2020/2184), Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the obligations arising from the Directive by 12 January 2023.

The recast directive updates water quality standards to ensure that all EU citizens have access to high-quality tap water and places obligations on Member States to prevent endocrine disruptors (such as nonylphenol and beta-estradiol), pharmaceuticals and microplastics from reaching drinking water . The Drinking Water Directive aims to help protect human health.

According to the European Commission, the efforts made by the Polish authorities to implement the directive have been insufficient and it has therefore submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union a request to impose financial sanctions on Poland.

In Poland, the amendment to the Act on collective water supply and collective sewage disposal and certain other acts, implementing the above-mentioned directive, is at the stage of the Legal Committee.

The draft amendment to the Act on collective water supply and collective sewage disposal and certain other acts assumes the introduction of regulations specifying the obligations of water suppliers, including testing the quality of water intended for human consumption in the scope of internal water quality control, specifying the procedures performed by the State Sanitary Inspectorate in the scope of monitoring the quality of water intended for consumption, and municipalities to take actions aimed at improving access to drinking water and promoting the use of water intended for human consumption.

The draft amendment indicates that 2,477 municipalities in Poland will be obliged to:

• monitoring the quality of water intended for consumption,
• identifying groups without access to water ,
• determining the causes and taking remedial measures in this matter.

The commune will be obliged to inform people who do not have such a connection about the possibility of connecting to the water supply network or alternative ways of obtaining access to water intended for human consumption.

In addition, local governments will have to encourage owners of public and private facilities to carry out risk assessments of internal water supply systems and to carry out other actions, also directed at consumers, aimed at eliminating or reducing the risks associated with internal water distribution in all internal water supply systems.

The local government will also have to provide assistance in implementing measures to improve access to water intended for human consumption .

Total costs expected to be incurred in the scope of local government units will amount to PLN 1.71 billion. The amount of expenditures of local government units was estimated based on the calculation of the costs of maintaining local government employees in connection with the implementation of new tasks. It is planned to cover these costs within the framework of general subsidies from the state budget.

According to the draft amendment, an obligation to conduct a risk assessment will be imposed on water suppliers and owners or managers of priority facilities, i.e. non-residential buildings intended for periodic or permanent stay of people and public utility buildings, as well as owners or managers of residential buildings or other buildings that are not priority facilities, excluding single-family residential buildings.

The owners or managers of these facilities will also be obliged to inspect them and update them if necessary every 6 years.

In accordance with the judgment of 2 February 2012 (ref. no. IV SA/Wr 715/11) issued by the Voivodship Administrative Court in Wrocław, the commune should undertake factual and legal actions aimed at improving the operating conditions of the water supply facilities existing within its territory.

It cannot be assumed that the mandatory tasks of the commune aimed at meeting the collective needs of the community, which have been specified in the Act on Collective Water Supply, do not include the obligation to make efforts to maintain the appropriate sanitary condition of water supplied to residents, regardless of the legal status of the devices by which the water is supplied.