Brussels, 09/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - In general, the member states are showing a high level of compliance with the requirements of the European Directive on the treatment of urban waste water (Directive 91/271/EEC), according to the report on the implementation of this legislation, which was published by the Commission on Friday 4 March. This encouraging result has allowed the Directive to play a decisive role in reducing the pollution of European waters through organic pollutants and nutrients, such as nitrates, but there is still progress to be made to plug certain gaps, by way of the considerable investments the member states are planning to make.
This report, the eighth of its kind, covers more than 19,000 built-up areas with more than 2,000 inhabitants, generating pollution corresponding to a population of 495 million people in 'habitant equivalency' (HE) terms. 15,000 of these towns are located in the 15 member states which made up the EU prior to 2004.
However, the report reveals major disparities. Compliance rates of 95% to 100% are common in the EU-15, but much less so in the 13 member states (EU-13) which joined the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Despite the progress made, these countries are lagging behind in complying with their obligations for the treatment of the water collected, particularly as regards the more rigourous treatment required in sensitive areas. It is vital that these member states plan their infrastructure priorities and secure the investments needed, the Commission stresses.
As regards collection, 20 member states have achieved compliance rates of 100%. Only Bulgaria and Slovenia still have compliance rates of less than 60%.
The report also recommends making a priority of improving the compliance rates in certain member states and regions of the EU-15, for which the compliance deadlines expired several years ago.
Compliance in major cities has improved, but many of these cities which emit waste in sensitive areas are still not applying the more thorough treatment, which is a cause for concern, given the pressure this places on the aquatic environment, the report notes.
For the first time, this report brings together the 2012 data notified by the member states on the collection and treatment of urban waste water and the implementation programmes (not including Cyprus, Hungary and Lithuania, which submitted their data for 2011, giving reasons for this). Only the data of 25 member states were assessed. Italy and Poland's data were of insufficient quality. As for Croatia, it had no compliance obligation for 2012, the Commission explains. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)