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In Europe, a stable and reliable food supply has become normal over recent decades. This has beenachieved in many cases by the use of pesticides to control pests, weeds, and diseases, plus fertilisers tosupply additional nutrients. Pesticides play an important role in the food production process, maintainingor enhancing crop yields and protecting quality in both conventional and organic arable farming. However,they can also lead to harmful effects in the environment, including aquatic ecosystems and risks to humanhealth. There is now widespread concern about the addition of a substance to the environment, designedto be toxic to part of the ecosystem.European policies aimed at reducing the potential risk from pesticides are supported by the Plants ProtectionProducts Regulation (EU, 2009), the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (EU, 2009) and the BiocidalProducts Regulation (EU, 2012). The Water Framework Directive (WFD) (EU, 2000) and its daughter directiveshelp to protect water quality from pesticide pollution. There is, however, little evidence to show whetherthis legislation has been effective, mainly because of limited data on the actual risk from pesticides in surfacewaters and groundwater at the European level (EEA, 2018a). Addressing this gap is of high interest for policy,practitioners, and the public because of the risks pesticides present to both the environment and humanhealth. Most recently, the Green Deal and its associated strategies and actions include the Biodiversity andFarm to Fork Strategies, which aim to reduce by 50 % the use and risk of pesticides by 2030 (EC, 2019b; EC,2020a, 2020b).This technical report provides an overview of the available information on pesticides in surface waters andgroundwater in EEA countries. Its main output is a comprehensive summary of the data on pesticides insurface waters and groundwater reported through WISE-SoE reporting to EEA1, over the period 2007 to 2017.The EEA’s Waterbase – Water Quality database conta

The geographical scope of this report is the Western Balkans – the regional delineation defined by the EU as the group of the countries in south-eastern Europe that are not part of the EU. The report presents current state, trends and future estimates that shape water availability, uses, opportunities and water related risks in the Western Balkans region. It also supports forward-looking knowledge by exploring different plausible futures and contributes to regional forward-looking analyses. The time frame of the report expands from the current state and trends to the mid-term (2031–2060) and long-term future (2061–2090), respectively. Climate change in terms of temperature, precipitation as well as future water availability (modelled discharge) has been assessed for 12 distinct catchments covering almost 80 % of the Western Balkans. Changes in water availability are accentuated in all scenarios, with discharges almost always lower in the long-term future. Even though the river discharges will most likely decrease, modelled projections indicate an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme hydrological events. The close proximity to the EU and the potential of many countries to join it provides the region with additional opportunities to cope with challenges of climate change. Common foreign policies should make the region stronger in relationship with international partners as well as provide a better environment to deal with transboundary and complex issues.

Society depends on the satisfactory and sustainable management of water. This report considers three pieces of EU water legislation targeted at particular sectors: the Bathing Water Directive, the Drinking Water Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, and looks at common issues in the context of the Water Framework Directive. A review of the implementation of each of the sectoral directives is provided.

This report is an update and extension of the ETC/ICM Technical Report No. 1/2013 ‘Hazardous substances in European waters – Analysis of the data on hazardous substances in groundwater, rivers, transitional, coastal and marine waters reported to the European Environment Agency from 1998–2010’ covering the new period 2002–2011 as well as including lake data for the first time. The marine environment assessment has not been updated with 2011 data, but a new comprehensive overview of the availability of marine biota and sediments has been added. The report provides a systematic summary presentation of the data on hazardous substances’ concentrations reported by the 39 member and collaborating countries to the European Environment Agency. It gives a quick overview of the state and availability of State of Environment (SoE) hazardous substances data in rivers, lakes, groundwater, transitional / coastal / marine waters, occurrence, concentrations levels and developments over time as well as “traffic light indicators” at country level by comparisons with quality standards, where applicable. These overviews are considered useful for a compact display of the thousands of data records for each substance, but should not be seen as an assessment of the situation between the reporting countries.

This report is an update and extension of the ETC/ICM Technical Report No. 1/2013 ‘Hazardous substances in European waters – Analysis of the data on hazardous substances in groundwater, rivers, transitional, coastal and marine waters reported to the European Environment Agency from 1998–2010’ covering the new period 2002–2011 as well as including lake data for the first time. The marine environment assessment has not been updated with 2011 data, but a new comprehensive overview of the availability of marine biota and sediments has been added. The report provides a systematic summary presentation of the data on hazardous substances’ concentrations reported by the 39 member and collaborating countries to the European Environment Agency. It gives a quick overview of the state and availability of State of Environment (SoE) hazardous substances data in rivers, lakes, groundwater, transitional / coastal / marine waters, occurrence, concentrations levels and developments over time as well as “traffic light indicators” at country level by comparisons with quality standards, where applicable. These overviews are considered useful for a compact display of the thousands of data records for each substance, but should not be seen as an assessment of the situation between the reporting countries.