New EU rules on chemical analysis and monitoring of water quality will enter into force on 21 August following their publication in the bloc's official journal earlier this month.

The directive is intended to improve the monitoring of water quality across Europe and help the European Commission to assess progress towards meeting the EU's 2015 water quality goal. Under EU law, member states must adopt river basin management plans by the end of the year.

The new rules set minimum performance criteria for water quality analysis methods. In the absence of methods meeting these criteria, monitoring must be based on best available techniques "not entailing excessive costs".