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14th April 2000 To: Minister Noel Dempsey, Department of the Environment. Re: Water Framework Directive Dear Minister, Herewith VOICE's call upon you to urgently review the current trend in the preparatory discussions for the conciliation process on the Water Framework Directive. VOICE is extremely disappointed about the Council's first response to Parliament's 2nd Reading on the Water Framework Directive (Council Compromise Proposals SN 2364/00). The Parliament's 2nd Reading amendments which have apparently been addressed in the Council's first response include three key principles: 1. To have legally binding environmental objectives. In particular, a clear principle of 'no deterioration' should apply to protect all European waters. The Council proposals on the other hand have retained the Common Position's legally very weak requirement that Member States only have to 'aim to achieve' environmental objectives. 2. The Commission and the Member States should make every effort to end releases of hazardous substances into European waters by 31/12/2020. The Council has made no proposals to accommodate this requirement, despite 12 Member States and the European Commission already being committed to such action under the OSPAR Sintra Statement. 3. Groundwater should be protected to a high standard by avoiding and minimising inputs of pollutants; bad or polluted groundwater should not be called 'good'; and at least the existing level of protection should be retained (i.e. the regime established by the 1980 Groundwater Directive 80/68/EEC). The Council proposals have ignored these requests, and follow the Common Position's proposals to significantly relax the protection of European groundwaters. Not only is there a risk that the Council is failing to address these very important principles but the so-called 'compromise proposals' are explicitly weaker in important respects than the Council's own Common Position. With these proposals Europe's highest quality waters, 'high status' waters, will be allowed to deteriorate, and Member States will be allowed to apply extensions (totalling 28 years) to the 'no deterioration' requirement for other waters. I urge you to lend your support to a new Council negotiating position which endorses the principle of 'no deterioration' to all European waters, supports an end to the release of all hazardous substances to European waters by 2020 and the protection of groundwater to a high standard. Such a position is entirely in keeping with your Department's commitment on water quality protection in Ireland. Yours sincerely, Iva Pocock, Co-ordinator.