The Walloon government adopted a draft decree to improve the quality of drinking water last week, a text that goes further than the simple application of the European directive on the subject.
As a member of the European Union, Belgium’s water standards fall under the European Commission and locally enforced laws, meaning Wallonia and Flanders determine water management and standards within themselves.
Similarly, Brussels determines water standards for itself, and all three regions coordinate their laws with federal regulations.
Wallonia’s decision will introduce specific standards relating to certain endocrine disruptors – substances that may mimic or interfere with the body’s hormones - and the monitoring of chemical substances of concern in tap water, such as lead and legionella bacteria.
To ensure stricter drinking water quality standards, Wallonia will set 48 microbiological and chemical parameters and indicators that will have to be monitored and tested regularly, and will set up new health risk assessment and management systems.
The text also authorises the Region to impose controls on water suppliers on substances of concern at the health level, such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or microplastics.
According to a Water Defence report from 2022, Wallonia provides Belgium with 55 percent of its overall water. Brussels relies on Wallonia for 97 percent of its water, importing 66 million cubic metres per year, while Flanders relies on Wallonia for 40 percent of its water supply.
