The EU agrees to toughen the wastewater law for which Spain already pays a heavy fine

This Monday, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (the Member States) reached a provisional agreement to update the regulations on the collection, treatment and discharge of urban wastewater for which, in its current version, Brussels imposed the highest fine on Spain. high of its history and has taken it again to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) for repeated non-compliance.

The agreement, which still must be ratified by both parties, seeks to extend the validity of the regulations to agglomerations from 1,000 inhabitants (until now it was from 2,000) by 2035.

“The EU has agreed to take proactive steps to have cleaner urban wastewater to protect its citizens from harmful discharges, including pharmaceutical and cosmetic waste that end up in our waters.

This will make our water cleaner and protect our health,” Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, welcomed the agreement.

The agreement will allow the 1991 directive to be renewed, which, according to the European Commission, will also favor “cleaner rivers, lakes, groundwater and seas throughout Europe.”

The negotiators agreed that the obligation to apply secondary treatment (the elimination of organic biodegradable matter) to urban wastewater before its discharge into the environment be imposed on all agglomerations of 1,000 inhabitants or more by 2035, as highlighted by the European Parliament. .

Four years later, the Twenty-seven must also guarantee tertiary treatment (elimination of nitrogen and phosphorus) in all plants that cover populations of 150,000 inhabitants or more and, by 2045, those of 10,000 inhabitants, date by which these agglomerations must also mandatory quaternary treatment to eliminate a “broad spectrum of micro-pollutants”.

Among others, the expanded directive will also apply in this sector for the first time the “polluter pays” principle to ensure that the cost of the agreed additional protection is partially covered by the responsible industry and not by taxpayers.

Specifically, the most polluting industries, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, must pay at least 80% of the cost of cleaning micro-pollutants, the so-called quaternary treatment.

In addition, the Commission notes, it will move the wastewater sector towards “energy and climate neutrality” and improve stormwater management, an issue “that will become increasingly important in light of increased rainfall due to climate change.” ”, he points out.

Likewise, Brussels celebrates, the new legal text will guarantee access to health facilities in public spaces for two million of the “most vulnerable and marginalized” people in the EU.

“Clean water and sanitary access is a right, not a luxury,” Sinkevicius stressed in this regard.

The new law will also strengthen the monitoring of different public health parameters, such as SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as contaminants caused by microplastics and chemicals such as polyfluoroalluylated substances or PFAS, the so-called “eternal chemicals.” remember Efe.

Sanctions on Spain

The repeated failure to comply with the current directive has been a headache for Spain in recent years.

In addition to having led Brussels to impose the largest fine on the country since its entry into the community club - almost 11 million euros every six months since 2018 -, on December 21 the Commission denounced Spain before the CJEU for "non-compliance." “widespread” of wastewater legislation.

According to Brussels, in the case of 29 agglomerations, Spain continues to have to guarantee that they have wastewater collection systems and that, where the use of individual systems or other appropriate systems is justified, the same level of environmental protection is achieved as with a collector system.

Furthermore, in another 225 agglomerations, Spain still does not offer the required degree of treatment for the entire polluting load of the agglomerations or does not offer the necessary treatment results with regard to discharges after treatment.

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