On Monday 9 October, the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) expressed its alarm at the European Parliament’s vote on the revision of Directive 91/271/EEC on urban wastewater treatment (see EUROPE 13265/22, 13254/10).
At issue: requirements for phosphorus that are deemed unattainable and which, combined with the investment required to achieve energy neutrality, will be ruinous both for the wastewater sector and for users, according to the association.
While the DWA welcomes the introduction of an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, it is highly critical of the stricter requirements for phosphorus decomposition.
“The planned effluent concentration value of 0.2 mg/l of phosphorus can only be met at the cost of considerable investment in filtration facilities - and even then, it is not certain that this can be achieved. Other considerable investments will follow, given the objective of energy neutrality in wastewater management. All in all, this directive will trigger a volume of investment of at least €1 billion in Germany - the increase in wastewater taxes will automatically be the consequence”, according to the President of the DWA, Professor Uli Paetzel.
Hence the DWA’s request that the limit value be raised to 0.4 mg/l of phosphorus to take account of the proportion of technically non-precipitable phosphorus. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)