New EU rules on treating urban wastewater, proposed by the European Commission last month are too ambitions for Polish municipalities, which point to the country’s ongoing issues with wastewater treatment.
The new directive was proposed by the Commission last month and aims to replace the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which has been in force for over 30 years. The new plan is meant to improve treating toxic micropollutants, including microplastics, and pharmaceuticals.
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, as explained on the European Commission website.
“This threshold is very ambitious for us, since we have already faced problems handling the provisions of the previous directive,” complains Klara Ramm from the Polish Waterworks Chamber of Commerce (IGWP).
Under the new proposal, the Commission will 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.”
Poland has had a bad experience in this area, Samorządowy points out, referring to the data by the Polish Supreme Audit Office (NIK). The results of the NIK audits have shown that 80% of the municipal waste produced in buildings not connected to the sewage system is released into the environment untreated.
Moreover, the updated directive would improve access to sanitation in public spaces and for the 2 million most vulnerable and marginalised people in the EU. According to Ramm, this aim resembles the Drinking Water Directive that obliges member states to provide water to all citizens, including the homeless.
“But installing public toilets is more difficult than providing sources of water,” Ramm says.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
