S.I. No. 410/2023 - European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 22nd August, 2023.

CONTENTS

I, DARRAGH O’BRIEN, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving full effect to Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy, as amended by Directive 2013/39/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013 amending Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC as regards priority substances in the field of water policy and, for the purpose of transposing Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1307 of 22 of July 2022 establishing a watch list of substances for Union-wide monitoring in the field of water policy pursuant to Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Regulations –

“the 2009 Regulations” mean the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) Regulations 2009 ( S.I. No. 272 of 2009 );

“the 2015 Regulations” mean the European Union Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 386 of 2015 ).

“the 2021 Regulations” mean the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 ( S.I. No. 659 of 2021 ).”

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in Directive 2013/39/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013 amending Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC as regards priority substances in the field of water policy, and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1307 of 22 of July 2022 establishing a watch list of substances for Union-wide monitoring in the field of water policy pursuant to Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations as in the Directive and in the Decision concerned.

PART 2

AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS

Amendment of Schedule 6, Table 13 of the 2009 Regulations

3. The 2009 Regulations are amended in Schedule 6 by the substitution of the following Table for Table 13 (as inserted by the 2015 Regulations and amended by the 2021 Regulations):

Table 13

Watch list of substances for Union-wide monitoring as set out in Article 8b of Directive 2008/105/EC

(¹) Chemical Abstracts Service

(²) European Union number – not available for all substances

(³) To ensure comparability of results from different Member States, all substances shall be monitored in whole water samples.

(⁴) Extraction methods:

SPE – solid-phase extraction

Analytical methods:

HPLC-MS-MS – High-performance liquid chromatography (tandem) triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

LC-MS-MS – Liquid chromatography (tandem) triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

LC-MS-MS/ESI – Liquid chromatography (tandem) triple quadrupole mass spectrometry with positive electrospray ionisation

UPLC-MS-MS – Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (tandem) triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

(⁵) Sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim, although not grouped, shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(⁶) Venlafaxine and O-desmethylvenlafaxine shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(⁷) The azole compounds shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(⁸) Dimoxystrobin and azoxystrobin shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(⁹) Metformin and guanylurea shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(¹⁰) The sunscreen agents shall be analysed together in the same samples but reported as individual concentrations.

(¹¹) Maximum acceptable detection limit

(¹²) Maximum acceptable quantification limit

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

14 August, 2023.

DARRAGH O’BRIEN T.D.,

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.