New EU rules on treating urban wastewater as part of a zero-pollution legislative package
Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) was adopted over 30 years ago in 1991. While it has significantly reduced the adverse effects of wastewater discharges from urban sources, a revision was necessary to address shortcomings and new challenges such as the presence of many more pollutants in urban wastewater than are covered in existing legislation, or storm water surges from extreme weather caused by climate change.
The European Commission therefore proposed a revision of the UWWTD on 26 October 2022, as part of the 2021 zero pollution action plan for air, water and soil.
The proposed directive main changes
The proposed changes include new obligations to control pollution from rainwater, stricter standards for nutrient removal, and advanced treatment for the removal of micro-pollutants. The proposal also aims to enhance circularity by clarifying requirements on water reuse and sludge management. EU countries will be required to track industrial pollution at source to increase the possibilities of re-using sludge and treated wastewater, avoiding the loss of resources. Rules on recovering phosphorus from sludge will support their use to make fertiliser, benefiting food production. To cover treatment costs, an extended producer responsibility system targeting pharmaceuticals and cosmetics would be set up. This is in line with the ‘polluter pays' principle and it will also incentivise research and innovation into toxic-free products, as well as making financing of wastewater treatment fairer. An energy neutrality obligation for wastewater treatment plants would also be introduced to align the directive with the Green Deal's ambitions.
Obligations to treat water will be extended to smaller municipalities with 1,000 inhabitants (from 2,000 inhabitants currently). Finally, building upon the Covid-19 experience, the Commission proposes to systematically monitor wastewater for several viruses, amongst which CoV-SARS-19, and anti-microbial resistance.
Protection of surface and groundwater against new pollutants
Based on up-to-date scientific evidence, the Commission is proposing to update lists of water pollutants to be more strictly controlled in surface waters and groundwater.
25 substances with well-documented problematic effects on nature and human health will be added to the lists. These include for instance PFAS, a large group of “forever chemicals” used among others in cookware, clothing and furniture, fire-fighting foam and personal care products.
In addition, learning the lessons from incidents such as the mass death of fish in the Oder river, the Commission proposes mandatory downstream river basin warnings after incidents. There are also improvements to monitoring, reporting, and easier future updates of the list to keep up with science.
Status in Sweden
The deadline of submitting referral responses to the Ministry of the Environment was February 12, 2023. Over 120 referral responses were sent in and in general, the revised directive was welcomed to improve water quality in Europe. The Swedish organizations particularly support the new requirements for monitoring and reporting pollutants. As of the concerns, some organizations fear the costs of meeting the requirements of the directive may be too high for some smaller municipalities or companies.
Next steps
The co-legislators have started work on the proposal. Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, responsible for the file, plans to consider a draft report at the end of April 2023. If the revised directive is adopted by the EU Commission and the European Parliament, it will become applicable legislation throughout the EU with different targets for 2030, 2040, and 2050 – giving industry and authorities time to adapt and invest where necessary.