3.4 Water pollution and human health

This briefing evaluates Europe’s progress towards reducing the risks water pollution poses to human health. It uses country data reported under EU legislation and by the Eionet, indicators and reports to assess current status as well as climate change predictions to develop an outlook for the future. It is related to briefing 1.1 State of Europe’s biodiversity and briefing 1.2 Pollution of ecosystems.

Key policies

EU water legislation aims to protect human health and the environment. This includes reducing pollution with quality standards for rivers, lakes, and ground, transitional, coastal and marine waters. Legislation and frameworks also protect people against floods, and unsafe drinking and bathing water. These include the Nitrates Directive, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD), the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Bathing Water Directive (BWD), the Floods Directive (FD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the Drinking Water Directive (DWD).

Past trends (10-15 years)

Trends/developments show a mixed picture

Water pollution can directly affect human health, for example through untreated sewage, and indirectly when people eat contaminated organisms such as fish.

WFD reporting shows that chemicals in surface waters present a significant risk to the aquatic environment and human health. In 2021, nearly half of surface waters in the EU-27 failed quality standards set to protect human health, primarily for brominated flame retardants in fish (Figure 1).

Compliance with the DWD is generally high, with Europeans enjoying access to clean drinking water. Groundwater provided 62% of the EU-27’s drinking water in 2022, with 78% of the area of Europe's groundwater in good chemical status during the period 2016-2021. Freshwater that is used for drinking water and is contaminated by micropollutants may need additional treatment, increasing costs and energy requirements.

The proportion of the EU-27 population that is connected to at least secondary wastewater treatment reached 81% in 2022. The UWWTD has improved water quality in Europe, but together with discharges of untreated wastewater from non-connected houses and storm overflows, wastewater continues to pollute surface waters.

Some decreases in marine contamination and in concentrations of hazardous substances have been reported in mussels and oysters. In 2018, 32% of the assessed area was not in good environmental status for seafood contaminants.

The BWD considers two bacterial pollutants. Figure 2 shows that most coastal and inland bathing waters in countries covered by this Directive met requirements in 2024.

Outlook (10-15 years)

Deteriorating trends/developments are expected to dominate

Europe’s freshwater is under significant pressure, presenting serious current and future challenges to water security.

The lack of significant progress can partly be explained by persistent diffuse pollutants that are released to air, e.g. brominated flame retardants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Emerging pollutants include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which appear to be widespread. Diffuse pollution, including from agriculture, remains a major challenge. Point source pollution is being addressed.

Revisions to the UWWTD will further reduce the loads of nutrients and toxic micropollutants in water from 2033. Revised standards under the DWD will improve its quality, including protecting water sources. Concerns for emerging pollutants include microplastics and pharmaceuticals in drinking water, while emerging risks include antimicrobial resistance in surface waters.

Warmer temperatures caused by climate change may increase human health risks owing to pathogen growth, while pollutant concentrations may increase owing to (1) lower water volumes and (2) intense rainfall washing untreated material into surface and groundwater.

Prospects of meeting policy targets 2030/2050

2030 Largely not on track to meet targets

It is not possible to achieve either the WFD target of good status or the MSFD objective for contaminants by 2027. In groundwater, the trend of nutrient losses appears unlikely to be sufficient to achieve the 50% reduction target by 2030. In 2024, 96% of bathing waters met requirements. In 2020, 81% of sewage was treated in line with EU legislation.

2050 Partially on track to meet targets/highly uncertain

The zero-pollution vision for 2050 is for water pollution to be reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to health. A slow decline in persistent substance concentrations can be expected.

Revisions to the UWWTD (2024) should significantly reduce pollution from urban wastewater. Proposed revisions to the WFD would reduce chemical pollution in water. However, pollution from agriculture is likely to remain a pressure.

Climate change impacts may lead to higher pollutant concentrations, such as when permitted discharge loads are made into smaller volumes of water. Where higher water temperatures support pathogen growth, this can increase the risk of waterborne disease.

Robustness

The chemical status of over 130,000 surface water bodies is reported by 23 EU Member States plus Norway. Bathing water status is based on reporting covering over 22,000 bathing waters. Urban wastewater treatment is based on reporting from 20,000 urban wastewater treatment plants and 21,700 urban areas in Member States, Iceland and Norway. Reporting under the MSFD is from 22 Member States. The prediction that nutrient losses into groundwater are unlikely but uncertain to decrease by at least 50% by 2030 is based on a trend extrapolation of the 8^th Environment Action Programme (EAP) indicator.

Charts/maps

Figure 1. Failures of chemical status in Europe's surface waters caused by priority substances with environmental quality standards set to protect human health

Figure 2. Share of excellent-quality bathing waters in Europe in bathing season 2024 (EU Member States, Albania and Switzerland)