Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria

1. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive its Implementation and Challenges TAIEX Seminar on Management of Water Resources – River Basin Management in the Baltic Region Vilnius, 02-03 March 2004 Elisabeth Hosner, BMLFUW, Austria

2. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaUWWTD - Objectives • Waste water collection and treatment in all agglomerations above 2 000 p.e. • Appropriate waste water treatment in all agglomerations below 2 000 p.e., if collected • Biological treatment (secondary) as standard requirement • More stringent treatment (tertiary) in sensitive areas and their relevant catchment areas

3. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaUWWTD - Objectives • Exceptions for marine waters (“less sensitive areas”) possible - mechanical (primary) treatment • Provisions for industrial discharges into urban waste water collecting systems • Provisions for certain industrial discharges into water bodies (agro-food industry) • Provisions for sustainable disposal of sewage sludge

4. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaMajor Deadlines for Member States 31/12/1993 legal transposition 31/12/1993 identification of sensitive areas 31/12/1998 sensitive areas >10 000 p.e. 31/12/2000 normal areas >15 000 p.e. 31/12/2005 normal areas >2 000-15 000 p.e. <2 000 (10 000) p.e.

5. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaUWWTD – Transitional periods The scope for transitional periods was based on the time schedule foreseen in the Directive Sensitive areas 7,5 years for agglomerations >10.000 p.e. Normal areas 9,5 years for agglomerations >15.000 p.e. 9,5 years for industry (Art.13) >4.000 p.e. 14,5 years for agglomerations >2.000 - 10.000 p.e. >2.000 - 15.000 p.e. 14,5 years for agglomerations <2.000 (10 000) p.e.

6. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaTransitional Periods granted by the EC State agglo. no p.e. transitional periods Estonia 62 1 068 430 2009/2010 Lithuania 84 2 683 800 2007/2009 Latvia 88 2 203 297 2008/2011/2015 Czech Republic 733 10 990 000 2002/2006/2010 Poland* 1479 38 004 976 2005/2010/2013/2015 Hungary 554 13 484 150 2008/2010/2015 Slovenia 181 2 850 000 2008/2010/2015 Cyprus 44 619 247 2008/2009/2011/2012 Slovakia 529 5 340 000 2010/2015 Malta 6 623 2003/2004/2006/2007 *Poland applies Art. 5.4 and will achieve 86% of the load in 2010. The information was kindly provided by the European Commission.

7. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaLinks between UWWTD and WFD • Provisions of the UWWTD are minimum requirements - to be taken into account in the river basin management plans • Exemptions of the WFD cannot be applied to the UWWTD • Additional waste water treatment measures, if the quality objectives of the WFD are not met • Flexibility in implementation is only given for small agglomerations

8. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Links between WWT and WFD UWWTD Emission based objectives Infrastructure provisions WFD River basin management Emission and quality objectives Pressures and impact Programmes of measures Links/overlaps: Impact Monitoring Reporting Measures Different deadlines Still different reporting obligations and periods

9. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaChallenges to be solved by new MS • Combined implementation of both Directives • Management plans should consider the requirements of both Directives • Harmonised monitoring, data collection and reporting from the beginning

10. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaExperiences in Austria and other MS Do: an accurate legal implementation Solve: the discrepancies between existing national law and EU law Do not underestimate: the organisation and resources for reporting obligations Enhance: the collaboration between all administrative levels and operators Enhance, organise: the dissemination of information Decide wisely about: UWWT Management – “big“ centralised or small scaled decentralised solutions Do: use financial resources in a sustainable way

11. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaEU activities to be expected • Verification of the legal transposition • (Verification of the identification of sensitive areas) • Compliance check of deadlines • Evaluation of reporting obligations • Setting and following legal actions in case of breaches of community law • Technical support • Financial support

12. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaEC activities to be expected Technical support: • Workshop on reporting issues More guidance on open issues? (definitions, agglomerations, monitoring aspects) • Harmonisation of reporting obligations (periods, content, format) • Workshop for new Member States in relation to upcoming reporting obligations (situation reports, implementation programmes, etc.) • Forecast of verification activities More support on extensive waste water treatment technologies?

13. Reporting obligations under the UWWTDpresented by the Commission in the UWWT Committee Meeting September 2003 Article 17 Programmes Article 16 Situation reports Article 15 Monitoring remains remains to be adapted EC- Verifications initiatives remains Legal transposition Identification of sensitive areas Deadlines/ Transitional periods

14. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaInvestment costs • The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive requires the construction of waste water treatment infrastructure • Its implementation implicates significant investments for Member States and Candidate States It represents the most cost intensive piece of environmental legislation

15. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaEU Funding instruments for CS/MS Funding instruments for Candidate States Phare Sapard ISPA Funding instruments for Member States Structural Funds Cohesion Funds Others Life, Interegg,… EC Funding guidelines

16. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaContact persons for Funding issues in the EC DG ENV: Cohesion Fund: Isabel Duarte, DG ENV G.4, tel.: 0032 2 296.87.92, email: isabel.duarte@cec.eu.int Structural Fund: Jonathan Parker, DG ENV G.4, tel.: 0032 2 299.25.07, email:jonathan.parker@cec.eu.int ISPA: George Pinto Antunes, E.1, tel.: 0032 2 2965717 email: george.pinto antunes@cec.eu.int PHARE: Anne Burrill, DG ENV E.1, tel.: 0032 2 295.43.88, email: anne.burrill@cec.eu.int DG REGIO: All ENV issues: Werner Simon, Unit A2, tel.: 0032 2 296.06.73, email: werner.simon@cec.eu.int Programmes in Baltic States, Poland: Friedemann Allgayer, Unit F2 Tel.: +32 2 2994389, email: friedemann.allgayer@cec.eu.int

17. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaContacts for technical information DG ENV.B.1, UWWT: Violeta Vinceviciene Tel.: +32 2 2993471 Email: violeta.vinceviciene@cec.eu.int EC, DG ENV - water web page: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/water

18. Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, AustriaOutlook and Challenges • Financial challenge to provide and maintain the required waste water infrastructure • Technical challenge to integrate the UWWT implementation in the river basin management plans of the WFD and to meet the high standards and tight deadlines • Administrative challenge to get the implementation right and the reporting obligations done • Chance for the protection of all water bodies across Europe