Joint civil society priorities for the trialogue negotiations on the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive

Categories: Water
Published: 16 January 2024
Size: 466.82 KB

This joint statement, signed by 18 civil society organisations at EU- and national-level, calls on the EU institutions to adopt a strong Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), stressing the need to ensure a regulation that is fit for purpose to address current and emerging threats to ecosystems and human health. Its demands include:

  • no more derogations on member state implementation after 2027;
  • coherent rules across the EU;
  • maintained ambition for micropollutant removal;
  • timely introduction of publicly available integrated urban wastewater management plans;
  • no undermining of the Water Framework Directive objectives;
  • an ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) scheme;
  • an energy neutrality target;
  • that circularity requirements do not compromise the EU Zero Pollution ambition;
  • a comprehensive framework to prevent biomedia leakages.