Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
- What is this
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) concerns the collection, treatment and discharge of urban waste water and the treatment and discharge of waste water from certain industrial sectors. It is one of the key directives for our sector.
- What do we want
European waste water service providers see the revision of the 1991 UWWTD as an opportunity to develop an ambitious, innovative, supportive and straight-forward new policy framework enabling operators to meet the Green Deal goals and make waste water collection, treatment and management fit for the decades to come.
New objectives to be delivered must consider the affordability of water services. This includes the long life-cycle of waste water collection and treatment assets and their inherent inflexibility for adaptation or upgrading.
Our key messages for EU policy makers include:
- Making source control the key principle for the management of the whole water cycle, including waste water management.
- Ensuring the sustainable financing of waste water utilities by ensuring full cost recovery.
- Promoting measures towards climate change adaptation and mitigation.
- Exploring the potentials of circular economy
- Adopting a holistic approach to micropollutants starting from control-at-source measures and implementing EPR for end-of-pipe measures in hot spots.
- Exploring sustainable solutions to address combined sewer overflows, road-run off and issues regarding individual and appropriate systems (IAS).
- Links to key positions and briefings
EurEau position on the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
Briefing note on nutrients and waste water management
Position paper on Integrated Waste Water Management Plans
Position on Energy and Greenhouse Gas emission reduction objectives for the European water sector under the UWWTD
Position on the consideration of small agglomerations in the UWWTD
Position on the Weser Ruling and its effects on UWWTP
Briefing note on Individual and other Appropriate Systems (IAS)
Position paper on industrial discharge into sewers
Briefing note on the management of waste water and storm water networks
Briefing note on what is a sewer network
Briefing note on microplastics and the water sector