Urban waste water treatment: Commission acts against Germany

The European Commission has decided to send a Reasoned Opinion to Germany for non-respect of the European Union's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The German legislation falls short of the requirements of the Directive concerning collecting systems, industrial waste water and monitoring for several areas. Two Länder in particular do not fulfill the requirements concerning sensitive areas.

Untreated or inadequately treated urban waste water is one of the chief forms of water pollution. The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment) addresses this pollution by requiring that cities, towns and other population centres meet minimum waste water collection and treatment standards by deadlines stipulated in the Directive (these deadlines expire at the end of 1998, 2000 and 2005 depending on the sensitivity of the receiving water and size of the population centre). The Directive is thereby playing a crucial role in improving the EU's water quality.

The necessary national legislation should have been adopted and sent to the Commission by the end of June 1993. Germany has sent legislation adopted at federal level as well as legislation adopted at the level of individual Länder. The Commission's examination of this legislation has revealed a number of problems.

In the first place, the German legislation fails to fully reflect the Directive's requirements for sensitive areas. Examples of such areas include the coastal waters of the North and Baltic Seas (which are overloaded with nutrients leading to algal blooms and other problems). Given that the waters of the Länder Sachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt are situated in the relevant catchments, the whole territory of these Länder should be subject to the stricter requirements applicable to sensitive areas. However, the legislation of these Länder falls short of the requirements.

In the second place, much of the German legislation fails to respect specific requirements of the Directive in relation to collecting systems, industrial waste water and monitoring.

The Commission's decision reflects its ongoing commitment to ensuring full implementation of this key Directive of the EU water policy.