Bert Leemans is a policy officer at DG Environment of the European Commission. In 2020, he joined the unit ‘Marine environment and clean water services’ and coordinates the implementation of the recast Drinking Water Directive. He has a background in chemical engineering and economics and worked in water supply sector for almost 15 years before joining the Commission. He coordinated the implementation of EU legislation on hygiene requirements for materials in contact with drinking water, a harmonised methodology for measuring microplastics and Commission technical guidelines for monitoring PFAS in drinking water. He chairs the meetings of the Commission’s Drinking Water Expert Group and of the Commission’s subgroup on water leakage levels.