The Commission is proposing stronger rules on ambient air, surface and groundwater pollutants, and treatment of urban wastewater. 

“Our health depends on our environment. An unhealthy environment has direct and costly consequences for our health”, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said when the European Commission presented its new policies to improve air quality and on treating urban wastewater. “Each year, hundreds of thousands Europeans die prematurely and many more suffer from heart- and lung diseases or pollution-induced cancers.” 

“The cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of prevention. That is why the Commission is acting now to ensure coordinated action across the Union to better tackle pollution at source - locally and cross-border,” Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius added. Air pollution alone means nearly 300,000 Europeans die prematurely each year. According to the Commission the proposed new rules will reduce deaths resulting from levels of the main pollutant PM2.5 above World Health Organization guidelines by more than 75% in ten years. Learning the lessons from current laws, the Commission proposes to both tighten allowed levels of pollutants and to improve implementation to ensure pollution reduction goals are more often reached in practice. .....