1.1. Contact organisation
[4D0] European Commission (including Eurostat)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
[4D1_E2] Eurostat - Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
5, rue Alphonse Weicker L-2721 Luxembourg
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
20 May 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
20 May 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
20 May 2026
The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, which is embedded in the European Commission’s 2024-2029 priorities under 'Sustaining our quality of life: Food security, water and nature'.
Among other things, SDG 6 calls for ensuring universal access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, and ending open defecation. It also aims at improving water quality and water-use efficiency and encouraging sustainable abstractions and supply of freshwater. SDG 15 seeks to protect, restore and promote the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial, inland water and mountain ecosystems.
This indicator can be considered similar to global SDG indicator 6.3.2 "Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality".
Protection of water resources, water ecosystems and of drinking and bathing water is at the cornerstone of EU environmental policy. EU water policy provides a framework to comprehensively address water protection and for achieving good status for inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The Water Framework Directive is the main European legislation aiming to prevent water pollution and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 supports the implementation of the Water Framework Directive’s objective by requiring Member States to restore freshwater ecosystems.
The 8th Environment Action Programme sets the environmental policy agenda for the years from 2021 to 2030 and explicitly mentions water-related issues in two of its six priority objectives. These two objectives are: (1) pursuing a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic free-environment, including for air, water and soil and protecting the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts; and (2) protecting, preserving and restoring biodiversity and enhancing natural capital, notably air, water, soil, and forest, freshwater, wetland and marine ecosystems.
4.1. Data description
This indicator measures the share of reported waterbodies with pesticides exceeding thresholds based on Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for the toxicity of the pesticides measured. Pesticides include both active substances from plant protection products and biocides as well as their relevant metabolites, thereby reflecting the substances actually present in the water and affecting aquatic life. The data used in the indicator are provided by EEA member countries, mostly on a voluntary basis. Only substances with a defined EQS are included.
For time series analyses, only complete series after inter/extrapolation are presented. As the number of measuring stations and waterbodies change over time, this leads to a recalculation of the whole time series with each update.
Complete series 2013 – 2023 are based on a total of 8858 waterbodies in rivers (8802 within the 27 EU Member States). These waterbodies in rivers are distributed over the following countries (number of water bodies in parentheses): Belgium (100), Bulgaria (78), Czechia (748), Denmark (17), Germany (242), Estonia (77), Ireland (172), Greece (194), Spain (2884), France (1473), Croatia (43), Italy (2292), Cyprus (57), Latvia (40), Lithuania (36), Luxembourg (2), Hungary (5), Malta (1), Netherlands (69), Austria (46), Poland (30), Portugal (62), Romania (18), Slovenia (25), Slovakia (29), Finland (16), Sweden (46), Island (1), Norway (20), Switzerland (0), Montenegro (1) and Serbia (34).
4.2. Unit of measure
Percentage
4.3. Reference Period
Calendar year
4.4. Accuracy - overall
In rivers, ecotoxicologically-based effect thresholds were assigned to each pesticide (if available) to assess exceedance rates at water bodies.
The sources considered are listed in Methodology Pesticides Indicator.
The exceedance of these thresholds indicates pollution by pesticides at levels potentially affecting the aquatic environment.
The Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) have not necessarily been defined in every country according to the same criteria as those used here, which makes a comparison of national assessments with this indicator difficult. For rivers, effect thresholds could be identified for only 56% of the pesticides reported, so that the actual risk of pesticides in surface waters is likely to be underestimated.
4.5. Source data
4.5.1. Source data - Organisation
EEA (Waterbase database)
4.5.2. Source data - Comment
Data source: EEA Waterbase database on Water Quality ICM.
Data provider: European Environment Agency (EEA)
5.1. Frequency of dissemination
5.1.1. Frequency of dissemination - Grade
Every year5.1.2. Frequency of dissemination - Comment
Indicator is updated annually.
5.2. Timeliness
5.2.1. Timeliness - Grade
T+2 years5.2.2. Timeliness - Comment
New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.
6.1. Reference area
6.1.1. Reference Area - Grade
All EU MS6.1.2. Reference Area - Comment
Data are presented for all EU Member States; plus Island, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro and Serbia.
6.2. Comparability - geographical
6.2.1. Comparability - geographical - Grade
All EU MS6.2.2. Comparability - geographical - Comment
The differences in the underlying data (e.g. number of samples taken annually, sampling methodology, number of pesticides, number of monitoring sites, number of water bodies) between years and countries must be considered for direct comparisons. The calculation method used to determine exceedance rates with water body size weighting attempts to take into account some of the imbalance of the data. However, a representative set of water bodies and sampling time points for all relevant pesticides, should be monitored and reported to achieve a representative overview of pesticide concentrations in European waters.
6.3. Coverage - Time
6.3.1. Time Coverage - Grade
> 10 years6.3.2. Time Coverage - Comment
Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2013.
6.4. Comparability - over time
6.4.1. Comparability - over time - Grade
> 4 data points6.4.2. Comparability - over time - Comment
Length of comparable time series without methodological breaks is longer than 4 data points.
There are no methodological breaks, since the time series is recalculated every year (e.g., the last update took the latest methodology for the whole series into consideration).
7.1. Dissemination format - Publications
Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in an EU context).
7.2. Dissemination format - online database
See table sdg_06_70
7.3. Dissemination format - other
Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: Eurostat overview.
Copyrights: Eurostat Copyright/Licence Policy is applicable.
