1.Member States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that regular monitoring of the quality of water intended for human consumption is carried out, in order to check that the water available to consumers meets the requirements of this Directive and in particular the parametric values set in accordance with Article 5. Samples should be taken so that they are representative of the quality of the water consumed throughout the year. In addition, Member States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that, where disinfection forms part of the preparation or distribution of water intended for human consumption, the efficiency of the disinfection treatment applied is verified, and that any contamination from disinfection by-products is kept as low as possible without compromising the disinfection.
2.To meet the obligations imposed in paragraph 1, appropriate monitoring programmes shall be established by the competent authorities for all water intended for human consumption. Those monitoring programmes shall meet the minimum requirements set out in Annex II.
3.The sampling points shall be determined by the competent authorities and shall meet the relevant requirements set out in Annex II.
[F14. Community guidelines for the monitoring prescribed in this Article may be drawn up in accordance with the management procedure referred to in Article 12(2).]
5.(a)Member States shall comply with the specifications for the analyses of parameters set out in Annex III
(b)Methods other than those specified in Annex III, Part 1, may be used, providing it can be demonstrated that the results obtained are at least as reliable as those produced by the methods specified. Member States which have recourse to alternative methods shall provide the Commission with all relevant information concerning such methods and their equivalence.
(c)For those parameters listed in Annex III, Parts 2 and 3, any method of analysis may be used provided that it meets the requirements set out therein.
6.Member States shall ensure that additional monitoring is carried out on a case-by-case basis of substances and micro-organisms for which no parametric value has been set in accordance with Article 5, if there is reason to suspect that they may be present in amounts or numbers which constitute a potential danger to human health.
Textual Amendments
F1 Substituted by Regulation (EC) No 596/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 adapting a number of instruments subject to the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty to Council Decision 1999/468/EC with regard to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny Adaptation to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny — Part Four.