Implementation of Council Directive 91/271/EEC

concerning urban waste-water treatment

Hans-Dietrich Uhl Bavarian State Ministry of the

Environment and Consumer Protection Tirana, 9 November 2018

The Rationale of Protecting Water Resources

• Motivation

– Primarily: to achieve hygiene, safe drinking water

– With population + economic growth: to limit environmental pollution

• 1st EC Environment Action Programme 1973 (OJ C 112, 20.12.73)

– Precautionary Principle: prevention is better than cure

– The “Polluter Pays” Principle

– Activities in one member state should not cause deterioration in

another

– Subsidiary Principle - action at appropriate level

Sustainability of clean water

• 1986 WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: availability of (clean) water landscapes contribute to a long & healthy life

• 2007 British Medical Journal: sanitation rated the greatest medical advance in 180 years (BMJ 2007 doi: 10.1136/bmj.39044.508646.94)

• 2016 UN SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030

• 2017 Blue Zones - places where people live the longest and healthiest life: next to clean water, 2 Mediterranean islands in the worlds’ top-5 (Longevity, The Secrets of Long Life - National Geographic Magazine)

Fact: Clean water equals quality of life

Goal: Enable and maintain continuing access to natural resources

Dictum: Avoid lasting environmental damage

Urban Wastewater Directive 91/271/EEC

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-urbanwaste/index_en.html

ELV

EQS

• Waste water collection and treatment for areas > 2 000 inhabitants (PE)

• Timeframe for implementation (tiered approach)

• Mandatory permit for disposal, including

– Emission limit values derived from

• Minimum requirements

• Sensitive areas with additional requirements

– Conditions for industrial effluent into urban systems

– Requirements for monitoring and reporting

• Reporting to EU

http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-pollution/uwwtd/ interactive-maps/urban-waste-water-treatment-maps-1

Environmental Quality Standards EQS

as set out in Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC WFD Bathing Water Directive 2006/7/EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC MSFD …

Emission Limit Values ELV

as set out in Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC UWWTD Industrial Emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) Directive 2010/75/EU IED …

AND

source-side: Emission control receiving-side: Quality control

Combined approach: the more strict limit (ELV or EQS) prevails [article 10 WFD, article 18 IED, article 5 + annex II.a UWWTD]

European Pollution Control: Combined Approach

Municipality Operating company

Permit

Water authority

Expert opinion Local environment authorities State office for environment External experts

Monitoring Self-monitoring by operator Inspections by local authorities

Public Participation

Refusal

Application

Reporting / Register • Operator to Water authority • Water authority to Register • State offices to Federal office • Federal office to EU-COM

§§

Review Limited validity of permit

Polluter Pays Principle Pollution levy, adequate tariff

Environmental Impact Assessment EIA

requests / carries out

Obligations according to EU-Directives

Access to Information Via register or by request

Typical elements of permit procedure

Experiences 1: Effectiveness of measures

• No discharge into lakes or non-flowing waters

ring sewer

• Pond or lagoon treatment techniques

+ robust technique

+ simple maintenance

+ facilitates decentralized infrastructure

- difficult to add advanced treatment steps

• Trend towards larger units

+ competent personnel

+ efficient treatment

+ upgradeable

total

provisional

technical

Seminatural (e.g. lagoons)

Number and type of WWTP

Tota

l Ph

osp

ho

rus

[µg

/l]

Construction of ring-sewer

rive

r

lake

Experiences 2: Path dependencies

• Decision on central or decentral systems

Central: Large, highly productive units

Decentral: shorter length of collection system

Central: less specific costs per per capita

Decentral: adaptable, e.g. in case of decreasing population

Criteria: total cost of ownership; sensitivity of receiving water

• Decision on type of collection systems

– combined sewer (limited storm water capacity, overflows)

– separate sewer (good sewage consistency)

– pressurized sewer (complex interdependencies)

Experiences 3: Expenditures

• Investment costs are only half of the total costs

• State funding and pollution taxes work as an incentive

• The individual tariff is not an suitable indicator to assess the success of utilities

Source: DWA Economic Data 2014

invest

labour

e.g. energy

pollution tax

Experience 4: decisions to be based on information

the water repository

Operator

Municipality

Building applications General public

EU Commission

Water authority

reporting

self-monitoring

Tax / levy Setting discharge requirements

information

permit

tariff

River monitoring

Official WWTP monitoring

River Basin Management Planning

Building approval

supervision

supervision

Professional bodies support capacity building, knowledge transfer, technical guidelines

European Court of Auditors - Recommendations

• Water quality in the Danube region (Special Report 23/2015)

– indicate for which water bodies ... measures are required ... that are stricter than those set by law for organic and nutrient pollution...;

– assess and ensure the effectiveness of the enforcement mechanisms...;

– assess the potential of using the water pollution charge as an economic instrument and as a way to apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle

• UWWT in the Danube basin (Special Report 2/2015)

... encourage Member States to see that public owners, such as municipalities, ensure that sufficient funding will be available for necessary maintenance and renewal of waste water infrastructure.

identification of sensitive areas

effective enforcement

adequate tariff

funding for maintenance and renewal

Resumée

• Implementation and operation of the UWWTD must also consider the extensive provisions of the Water Framework Directive.

• Emission permits follow defined and transparent procedures.

• Decisions are taken on expert judgement at the local level.

• A pollution register is a crucial decision tool, reporting involves all tiers.

• Pollution levy and monitoring/enforcement foster implementation.

• Long term finance schemes for maintenance and re-investment are crucial.

• There is not a single, straightforward approach.

• Path-dependencies imply thorough decision-making prior investments.

Clean water = quality of life

D R A F T

Acronyms

• EQS Environmental quality standard

• ELV Emission limit value

• Add. Additional

• WFD Water Framework Directive

• IED Industry Emission Directive (also IPPC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive)

• MSFD Marine Strategy Framework Directive

• PE Population equivalent

• EU-COM Commission of the European Union

• FWK-SWK-GWK river-lake-groundwater bodies

• CIS Common Implementation Strategy (outcome are documents collected in the CIRCABC online repository)

• Blueprint Strategy further development of existing and future topics of water legislation (water reuse, reducing siltation, ...) incl. „Fitness Check“ = review