In more detail
The new Royal Decree 3/2023 ("Decree") dated 10 January 2023, which establishes new technical criteria for assessing the quality of drinking water, its control and supply, came into force on 12 January 2023. The Decree transposes to the national level EU Directive 2020/2184 ("EU directive") on the quality of water intended for human consumption, which seeks to reinforce the protection of people's health against the possible adverse effects due to the contamination of water intended for consumption. "Drinking water" is understood to be water intended for human use, whether for drinking, cooking, hygiene, food preparation or similar domestic purposes ("Drinking Water").
The new Decree repeals Royal Decree 140/2003 and harmonizes minimum standards to be observed for materials in contact with drinking water, as provided in the EU directive. The Decree, in line with the European Union standard, aims to protect human health and facilitate access to drinking water. This is in line with the United Nations' sustainable development objective, which resulted from the lack of access to drinking water by the population, especially by vulnerable groups or those at risk of social exclusion. Therefore, the ultimate aim of the regulation is to guarantee the availability and minimum access to drinking water, by increasing the confidence of citizens in tap water and the promotion of such water by the administration, at state, autonomous and local level.
The Decree also supersedes Law 14/1986, on General Health and presents a novel approach based on risk assessment and management of:
- Water catchment areas, with the aim of reducing the drinking water treatment necessary for its production.
- The supply areas, the focus on risk management of these not being a novelty, given that they were already introduced by Royal Decree 902/2018.
- Indoor installations in priority buildings, focusing attention on certain priority buildings, including hospitals, educational centers and sports or leisure centers.
In other words, the Decree seeks to achieve global control of drinking water pollution prevention along the supply chain. The standard itself already provides for criteria and measures to be applied in water catchment areas and, with respect to supply areas and priority buildings, provides for the implementation of the Water Sanitation Plan (PSA, by its acronym in Spanish), already foreseen since 2018 following the recommendation of its approach made by the World Health Organization in 2004.
In addition, the EU directive updated the quality parameters for drinking water set forth in previous EU standards. These new parameters are referenced in Annex I of the Decree.
In view of the above, the relevance of the Decree should be emphasized, as it introduces the requirements harmonized by the European Union standard and broadens the approach to the management of risks of drinking water contamination, in order to improve its quality and guarantee its general availability.
