Post on 04-Jun-2020
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.
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