European Commission Draft Directive Proposes Drinking Water Access Mandate

European Commissioners are due January 31 to approve draft language showing willingness to mandate measures to increase access to drinking water including setting up and maintaining outdoor and indoor water taps in public spaces. Free provision of drinking water in restaurants, canteens, public buildings and by catering services “will be encouraged”.

Such areas of regulation have historically been reserved to the legislatures and regulatory regimes of European Union states.

A copy of a draft directive published online by Politico, (titled “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Quality of Water Intended for Human Consumption") refers to drinking water being “the focus of the first ever European citizens' initiative “Right2Water'”, which collected over 1.8 million signatures and to which the Commission responded positively”.