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The water policy of the European Union is primarily codified in three directives: A directive is a legislative act of the European Union which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. ...
- The Urban waste water treatment directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning discharges of municipal and some industrial waste waters;
- The Drinking water directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 concerning potable water quality;
- The Water framework directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 concerning water resources management.
EU member states have enacted national legislation in accordance with these directives. The institutional organization of public water supply and sanitation does not fall under the purview of the EU, but remains a prerogative of each member state.
Urban waste water treatment directive of 1991
Content This Directive concerns the collection, treatment and discharge of urban waste water and the treatment and discharge of waste water from certain industrial sectors. Its aim is to protect the environment from any adverse effects due to discharge of such waters. According to the directive's timetable: - by 31 December 1998: all agglomerations of more than 10 000 "population equivalent" (p.e.) which discharge water into sensitive areas had to have a proper collection and treatment system requiring meeting the most stringent quality standards, usually referred to as tertiary treament (Art. 5);
- by 31 December 2000: agglomerations of more than 15 000 p.e. outside sensitive areas had to have a collection and treatment system which enables them to satisfy less stringent requirements, usually referred to as secondary treatment (Art. 4);
- by 31 December 2005: all agglomerations of between 2 000 and 10 000 p.e. which discharge water into sensitive areas, and all agglomerations of between 2 000 and 15 000 p.e. which do not discharge into such areas had to have a collection and treatment system (Art. 3). [4]
The directive also allows the establishment of less sensitive coastal areas, for which primary treatment would be sufficient, if it can be shown that there is no adverse impact on the environment (Art. 6).
Member states had to establish lists of sensitive areas. It has been estimated that in 2004 about 34 percent of the pollutant load from wastewater that falls under the scope of the directive is discharged into sensitive areas. [1]
Implementation challenges The European Commission published three reports on the implementation of the directive, the latest in 2004. The report noted that the wastewater treatment situation in Europe is still very unsatisfactory and that none of the deadlines has been met by all member countries. Only Austria, Denmark and Germany fully complied with the directive. The report noted that BOD levels in European rivers have been reduced by 20-30 percent since the enactment of the directive, but that other pollution parameters such as nitrogen levels remained high. The reason are that much of the nitrogen pollution comes from non-point sources in ariculture, and the still insufficient nutrient removal by wastewater treatment plants. The eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, North Sea and considerable parts of the Mediterranean thus remains a "severe problem".[2] The report also noted that it is estimated that more than 50 percent of the discharges into sensitive areas was not treated sufficiently. Even for non-sensitive areas, although the picture was less bleak, only 69% of the discharge received treatment and the 2000 deadline was not met by most member countries. 25 out of 556 cities in the EU still had no wastewater treatment system at all. The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...
Look up bod in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Eutrophication is apparent as increased turbidity in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, imaged from orbit. ...
The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ...
The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...
The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...
The directive triggered substantial investment in wastewater treatment throughout the EU. A controversial aspect of the directive is the requirement for all agglomerations with more than 2 000 inhabitants to have a wastewater collection system, which has been widely interpreted as requiring connection to a sewer system even if existing on-site sanitation systems perform adequately. The cost of connecting houses to sewers in small rural towns with dispersed housing patterns is often very high and imposes a high financial burden on users. Sewage treatment is the process that removes the majority of the contaminants from waste-water or sewage and produces both a liquid effluent suitable for disposal to the natural environment and a sludge. ...
Image of a sewer pipe // Function Sewers transport wastewater from buildings to treatment facilities. ...
According to the European Commission, the directive represents the most cost intensive European legislation in the environmental sector. The EU estimates that 152 billion Euro were invested in wastewater treatment from 1990 to 2010 (sic!).[3] The EC provides support for the implementation of the directive in the order of 5 billion Euro per year.
Drinking water directive of 1998
Content The Directive is intended to protect human health by laying down healthiness and purity requirements which must be met by drinking water within the Community (see water quality). It applies to all water intended for human consumption apart from natural mineral waters and waters which are medicinal products. Water quality is the chemical and physical characterization of water. ...
Member States shall ensure that such drinking water: It has been suggested that Safe water be merged into this article or section. ...
- does not contain any concentration of micro-organisms, parasites or any other substance which constitutes a potential human health risk;
- meets the minimum requirements (microbiological and chemical parameters and those relating to radioactivity) laid down by the directive.
- They will take any other action needed in order to guarantee the healthiness and purity of water intended for human consumption.
The directive requires member states to regularly monitor the quality of water intended for human consumption by using the methods of analysis specified in the directive, or equivalent methods. Member states also have to publish drinking water quality reports every three years, and the European Commission is to publish a summary report. Within five years Member States had to comply with the Directive. Exemptions can be granted on a temporary basis, provided that they do not affect human health. A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). ...
A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ...
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...
Radioactivity may mean: Look up radioactivity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...
Implementation challenges Until 2006 the European Commission has not published a summary report on drinking water quality. It is thus difficult to assess the degree of implementation.
Water framework directive of 2000
Content Under this Directive,[4] member states have to identify all the river basins lying within their national territory and assign them to individual river basin districts. By 22 December 2003 at the latest, a competent authority had to be designated for each of the river basin districts. In addition, member states had to analyze the characteristics of each river basin and an economic analysis of water use. Nine years after the entry into force of the directive, a management plan must be produced for each river basin district. The measures provided for in the river basin management plan seek to: For the term related to television programmes, see watershed (television). ...
- prevent deterioration, enhance and restore bodies of surface water, achieve good chemical and ecological status of such water and reduce pollution from discharges and emissions of hazardous substances;
- protect, enhance and restore all bodies of groundwater, prevent the pollution and deterioration of groundwater, and ensure a balance between astraction and recharge of groundwater;
- preserve protected areas.
By 2010, Member States must ensure that water pricing policies provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently and that the various economic sectors contribute to the recovery of the costs of water services including those relating to the environment and resources. This cost recovery rule is expected to impact particularly irrigated agriculture, where users have not paid the full costs of water supply. A hazardous material is any solid, liquid, or gas that can cause harm to humans and other living organisms due to being flammable or explosive, irritating or damaging the skin or lungs, interfering with oxygen intake and apsorption (asphyxiants), or causing allergic reactions (allergens). ...
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations. ...
At the latest twelve years after the date of entry into force of the Directive, the European Commission has to publish a report on the implementation of the Directive. The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...
Implementation challenges There has been no report yet on the implementation of the water framework directive. Some countries, such as France and Spain, had already established basin agencies before the enactment of the directive. They should thus find it easy to implement that part of the directive. Other countries that have historically managed their water resources through institutions whose geographical limits were determined by administrative boundaries, such as in the case of Germany where the states (Laender) manage water resources, are in the process of setting up coordinating mechanisms for each river basin. Other elelements of the directive, such as the protection of groundwater and cost recovery rules, may be more difficult to implement, especially in Southern member countries that have extensive irrigated agriculture.
References - ^ European Commission 2004, p. 107 [1]
- ^ European commission 2004, p. 106 [2]
- ^ European Commission 2004, op. cit., p. 108
- ^ [3]
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