On 11 April 2019, the ANSES published a notice on the evaluation of the relevance of pesticide metabolites in water intended for human consumption.
Pesticides contained in plant protection products and biocidal products are released into the environment through their use.
These substances and their metabolites can therefore be found in raw water used for the production of water for human consumption (EDCH) but also in tap water.
The presence of pesticide residues and their metabolites in water is regulated by the European Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water for human consumption.
This text requires the search for pesticides and their relevant metabolites and sets quality limits in EDCHs at 0.1µg/L per individual substance and 0.5µg/L for the sum.
However, the Directive does not provide criteria for identifying the relevance of a metabolite.
The lack of a precise definition
