The current European Drinking Water Directive provides undoubtedly a high level of security for drinking water quality throughout European countries. The current Directive is based on the indicator concept, which has been developed over a century ago. The Directive requires the absence of E.coli or enteroccocci from drinking water at the consumer's tap. However, a number of outbreaks (due to certain viruses and protozoa) through drinking water that meat the E.coli standards, has raised discussions on the best approach to warrant the microbiological safety of drinking water. New, disinfectant-resistant pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia and new viruses, had emerged as waterborne pathogens and caused illness in several Member States. Moreover, the current approach is reactive; by the time monitoring indicates presence of E.coli the drinking water has reached the consumers, sometimes already for days.

It is therefore recognised that the traditional approach to microbiological safety (absence of E.coli and enterococci) has several serious shortcomings. In the current EU Drinking Water Directive future development was envisaged as it states that “the establishment of (microbiological) parametric values applicable to water intended for human consumption should be based on public-health considerations and on a method of assessing risk”. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) guidelines on Water Quality, outlines the need for a systematic approach for the microbiological control and protection of drinking water. This approach will link health targets, public health status, risk management and risk assessment.
The aim of MICRORISK is to develop a microbial risk assessment process which will contribute to the decision making process for risk management of drinking water. The drinking water production chain will be integrated in a single knowledge framework and its reliability towards regularly occurring calamities and outbreaks will be determined. The elements of this framework are the Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).  The implementation of the framework aspires to "benchmark" the policy making process leading to future Drinking Water Directives and new legislation across the European Union State Members.