The European Union (EU) passed a new Drinking Water Directive in December 2020, which is in force since 1 January 2021. The existing directive was evaluated concerning its efficiency and performance based on the “Right2Water” campaign. With the “Right2Water” campaign, the European Union and its member states are committed to implementing the human right to water and sanitary facilities. The campaign has three stated goals: Guaranteed water and sanitation for everyone in Europe and no liberalization of the water supply. The new Drinking Water Directive provides, among other things, stricter limit values for harmful substances in drinking water. In this context, the current limit value for lead in drinking water has been halved from 10 μg/l to 5 μg/l at the tap. There is a transition period of 15 years until 12 January 2036. However, the limit value for lead in drinking water of 5 μg/l should be used already as the target value wherever possible.
REACH is the European Chemicals Regulation that came into force in 2007 for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. Substances manufactured by companies or imported into the European Union must be registered at the European Chemicals Authority ECHA. REACH aims to ensure a high level of protection for human health and the environment. Substances of very high concern (SVHC) are substances that have been selected as possible candidates for an authorization procedure under the REACH regulation. The material lead has been listed on the SVHC candidate list of the REACH regulation since 27 June 2018. It is foreseeable that REACH will put the material lead on the prohibited list in the near future and therefore the material lead has to disappear from all products.
