On 14 November 2024, the European Commission referred Bulgaria and Romania to the Court of Justice of the European Union for persistent infractions of its Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD – 91/271/EEC) dating back to 2017. In Bulgaria, the violations include dozens of towns with 10,000+ inhabitants that have been noncompliant in collecting, pretreating, and discharging wastewater since 31 December 2010. Romania has failed to comply for the same reasons in over 150 towns since 31 December 2015.
Despite its decades-long struggle to ensure compliance of all member states with its initial directive passed in 1991, on 10 April 2024, the European Parliament updated the law to include expanding wastewater collection and secondary treatment to agglomerations above 1,000 population equivalents (PE).
In this Research Note:
- The massive investment uptick required for UWWTD compliance is unlikely
- UWWTD update pushes ambitious polluter-pays agenda
- Pharma and cosmetics industries brace for significant production cost increases
- Recent Danish treatment plant upgrade offers template for longer-term micropollutant remediation
