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Questions and Answers on the new EU rules on treating urban wastewater
Why is the EU revising the rules on treating urban wastewater?
Urban wastewater is one of the main sources of water pollution if it is not collected and treated properly. The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive currently in force is more than 30 years old. Since its adoption the quality of European rivers, lakes and seas has greatly improved. EU countries have set up collecting systems and wastewater treatment plants with the help of EU funding. There is a high level of compliance with the Directive across the EU, with 98% of wastewater collected and 92% satisfactorily treated, according to the current coverage of the directive.
Yet, pollution remains that is not covered by the current rules and needs to be addressed to achieve a pollution-free environment by 2050. This includes pollution from smaller cities outside the scope of the Directive and pollution caused by storm water overflows. At present, micropollutants such as residues from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics are also not covered. These residues are frequently found in all our water bodies and have a detrimental effect on nature. Yet, when these micro-pollutants end up in the environment, additional treatment is necessary to remove them again.
Wastewater treatment is one of the biggest consumers of energy in the public sector. The revised Directive therefore also sets an energy neutrality target for the sector.
Finally, recent experience has shown that viruses can be tracked with high reliability in wastewaters: this provides precious information for public health decisions. To be able to collect the necessary data has likewise required an update of the Directive.
The current revision of the Directive is in line with the results of a 2019 Evaluation, adapting it to the newest scientific knowledge.
What does the Commission aim to achieve with this proposal?
The proposal for revising the rules on treating urban wastewater aims to protect better the health of Europeans and the environment. More specifically, the revision aims to:
- Make the wastewater sector energy-neutral and move it towards climate neutrality by reducing energy use, using the larger surfaces of some wastewater treatments plants to produce solar/wind energy, encouraging water reuse and using sludge to produce biogas, which can substitute natural gas.
- Make industry responsible for treating toxic micropollutants (“polluter pays” principle) that are released into the environment from the use of their products, especially harmful residues from the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sector.
- Improve access to sanitation in public spaces and for the 2 million most vulnerable and marginalised people in the EU.
- Require the monitoring of health parameters in wastewater in order to enhance the EU's preparedness against pandemics or other major public health threats, as is currently being done for COVID-19.
What are the main measures that the Commission is proposing?
The revision proposes several measures that will be progressively applied until 2040.
To further reduce pollution, the new rules enlarge the scope of the current Directive (which applies to cities with over 2,000 inhabitants) to cover all cities with more than 1,000 inhabitants. The new rules will also cover rainwater and will require EU countries to establish integrated urban wastewater management plans in large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants initially, as well as later for cities from 10,000 inhabitants, where needed). This will reduce direct emissions of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus to water bodies, but also litter and microplastics captured by urban runoff. It also introduces better control of individual systems such as septic tanks, stricter standards for nutrients, and standards for micropollutants. It also requires the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and microplastics.
To make sure that the wastewater sector not only improves water quality but also moves towards climate-neutrality and circularity, the revision introduces a binding energy neutrality target for the whole sector, at Member State level. This means that urban wastewater treatment plants will have to significantly reduce their energy consumption and produce energy through renewable sources (e.g. solar, wind and in particular biogas production). This will be achieved through energy audits and by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. EU countries will also be required to track industrial pollution at the source to increase the possibilities of re-using sludge and treated wastewater, thus ensuring that valuable resources are not lost. The proposal also provides a mandate for the Commission to fix minimum recovery rates for phosphorus.
To improve governance in the wastewater sector and ensure transparency between operators and the public, the new rules will ensure that operators make public key performance indicators. Producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics will be required to pay for the cost of removing micropollutants that come from their products and end up in wastewater, thus implementing the “polluter pays” principle.
A key element of the proposal is geared to improve access to sanitation, especially for vulnerable and marginalised people across the EU. To do so, Member States should consider setting up sanitation facilities in public spaces and for the most affected to provide them free of charge or at low cost.
Finally, the COVID-19 crisis has shown that viruses can be tracked with high reliability in wastewater, so the proposal introduces health parameters to monitor pandemics.
If properly implemented, the new rules are expected to have several positive effects by 2040. Across the EU, they are expected to save almost €3 billion per year, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 62.5% compared to 1990, decrease water pollution through reduction of more than 365,000 tonnes of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus and cut microplastics emissions by 9% through better storm water management.
How will the new rules affect operators?
Wastewater operators will continue to be responsible for collecting, treating, monitoring and properly discharging urban wastewater.
Improving transparency requirements for the sector will offer more opportunities for stakeholders to engage with the sector.
Water and treatment technology industry will directly benefit from strengthened standards, but also from the measures expanding the scope of the Directive to smaller agglomerations, optimising the operations and reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Business opportunities in developing new treatment techniques while reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions will emerge.
Additional investments will be needed, especially to better manage nutrients (both with regard to prevention of eutrophication and support for recuperation and re-use) but also to treat micropollutants. Investments will also be needed to meet the energy neutrality target, although these will be profitable on the mid- to long run, especially given current soaring energy prices.
The changes are not expected to make water services more expensive and overall, the benefits are estimated to be far higher than the costs.
Why will the “polluter pays” principle be introduced?
The revised directive will introduce extended producer responsibility. This means the industry will be asked to pay for the treatment of the harmful pollutants that are released from the use of their products. Currently the pharmaceuticals and the cosmetics sectors are jointly responsible for 92% of the toxic load in wastewaters. For both sectors, there is sufficient evidence on the existence of micropollutants from these products in wastewater and there are treatments to remove their harmful residues. In the long term, the Commission will assess if other sectors can be added to the extended producer responsibility scheme.
Why does the revised Directive introduce access to sanitation as a requirement?
In the EU, according to Eurostat, approximately 2% of the population have no access to indoor, flushing toilets and around 10 million people still lack access to basic sanitation services. This lack of access to sanitation disproportionally affects the most vulnerable and marginalised people and means the EU is failing to implement Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure ‘access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all'. Therefore, under the new rules, EU countries must identify marginalised and vulnerable people that do not have access to sanitation and take measures to improve their reality. EU countries are also encouraged to ensure access to public toilets in cities for all.
How can monitoring of health parameters in wastewater help monitoring pandemics?
Recent experience with the SARS-CoV-2 virus has shown that it can be tracked with a high reliability in wastewaters, which provides precious information for the management of the pandemics or other public health threats. The revised directive will be a game changer in terms of monitoring pandemics. It introduces the requirement for EU countries to set up monitoring of health parameters in urban wastewater for: SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants, but also polio and influenza viruses, emerging pathogens, contaminants of emerging concern, and any other public health parameters that are considered relevant by the national competent authorities for monitoring.
How do these revised rules link to the revised list of surface water and ground water pollutants?
This revision, alongside the revised list of groundwater and surface water pollutants, is a key step in delivering the European Green Deal's zero pollution ambition. The two proposals are complementary.
Through the requirement of additional treatment for micropollutants, the wastewater rules take a very broad approach to deal with micropollutants in the wastewater. They also allow EU countries and their local authorities to target any additional chemicals that they might find relevant. The new surface water pollution directive sets further threshold levels for a variety of chemicals, not all of which coming from urban wastewater.
The current revision also complements the proposal for a revised Industrial Emissions Directive by better addressing industrial discharges entering public sewer systems.
For More Information
Factsheet on the Review of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
Proposal for a revision Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
Questions and Answers on the Revision of EU ambient air quality legislation
Questions and Answers on Surface water and groundwater pollutants