The European Commission has decided to refer France and Hungary to the Court of Justice for urban wastewater treatment failures in both countries.
The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive requires member states to ensure urban agglomerations, i.e. towns, cities and settlements, properly collect and treat their wastewater.
According to the Commission, France should have been fully compliant with the Directive requirements since 2005, however, more than 100 agglomerations with a population of more than 2,000 do not comply because urban wastewater entering collecting systems is not subject to the appropriate level of treatment before being discharges or even if the appropriate level is applied, treated wastewater do not reach the Directive’s requirements.
A total of 15 of these agglomerations also fail to meet additional requirements of the Directive related to the protection of sensitive areas from nutrients.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the French authorities in October 2017 followed by a “reasoned opinion in May 2020.
The Commission said: “Although the French authorities have shared monitoring data aimed at showing compliance with the requirements of the Directive for some of the agglomerations initially identified, the deficiencies and gaps remaining therein lead the Commission to conclude that the authorities have failed to prove compliance for the above-mentioned agglomerations.”
In Hungary, the Commission said 22 agglomerations are still not compliant with the Directive as they do not provide all their residents with a collecting system for urban wastewater or an alternative to the same level of environmental protected.
As they are not properly collected, the wastewater cannot be treated as required by EU law and in addition, Hungary is in breach of ensuring more stringent treatment for five other agglomerations.
A letter of formal notice was sent to Hungarian authorities in February 2017, followed by a reasoned opinion in December 2017.
The Commission added: “Although the Hungarian authorities have closely cooperated with the Commission, the low ratio of connections to collecting systems already built and the high ratio of individual or appropriate systems (IAS) usage led the Commission to conclude, that the authorities have failed to prove compliance for the above-mentioned agglomerations.”
