Directive (EU) 2024/3019 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2024 concernin

(1)

Council Directive 91/271/EEC (4) has been substantially amended several times (5). Since further amendments are to be made, that Directive should be recast in the interests of clarity.

(2)

Water is a primary good which belongs to everyone and is for everyone. As a natural resource which is essential, irreplaceable and indispensable to life, it needs to be considered and integrated in its three dimensions: social, economic and environmental.

(3)

Directive 91/271/EEC sets the legal framework for the collection, treatment and discharge of urban wastewater and the discharge of biodegradable wastewater from certain industrial sectors. Urban wastewater can be formed by different mixtures of domestic wastewater, urban runoff and non-domestic wastewater from other origins. Wastewater from institutions such as offices, schools, kitchens with food preparation which originates predominantly from the human metabolism qualifies as domestic wastewater. The objective of Directive 91/271/EEC is to protect the environment from being adversely affected by insufficiently treated urban wastewater discharges. It has contributed to achieving the objectives established under Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) and other relevant Union law. This Directive should continue to pursue the same objective while also contributing to the protection of public health in accordance with the One Health approach, which is aimed at sustainably balancing and optimising the health of people, animals and ecosystems, when for instance urban wastewater is discharged into bathing waters or into water bodies used for the abstraction of drinking water, or when urban wastewater is used as an indicator for parameters relevant for public health. It should also ensure access to sanitation and to key information related to the governance of urban wastewater collection and treatment activities. This Directive should also aim at increasing synergies with climate change adaptation and actions to restore urban ecosystems in particular through integrated urban wastewater management planning, while making optimal use of digitalisation. Finally, this Directive should contribute to the progressive reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from urban wastewater collection and treatment activities, in particular by further reducing nitrogen emissions but also by promoting energy efficiency and production of renewable energies, and thus should contribute to the 2050 objective of Climate Neutrality established under Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). In line with Article 193 of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Member States can go beyond the minimum requirements set out in this Directive. Member States could consider for instance applying deadlines or thresholds more stringent than those included in this Directive, reaching energy or climate neutrality more rapidly or imposing additional requirements for, or broadening the spectrum of the application of, their national extended producer responsibility systems.

(4)

In 2019, the Commission performed an evaluation of Directive 91/271/EEC under the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (the ‘evaluation’). It became apparent from that exercise that certain provisions of that Directive needed to be updated. Three important sources of pollution not fully addressed under that Directive from urban wastewater that could be avoided were identified, namely storm water overflows and polluted discharges of urban runoff, potentially malfunctioning individual systems, that is to say systems treating domestic wastewater that does not enter collecting systems, and small agglomerations that are currently not completely covered by Directive 91/271/EEC. Those three sources of pollution put significant pressure on surface water bodies in the Union. Moreover, the report of the evaluation also highlighted the need to improve the transparency and governance of urban wastewater activities, to seize the opportunity offered by the urban wastewater treatment sector to use its potential for renewable energy development and make tangible steps towards energy neutrality as a contribution to climate neutrality, and to harmonise urban wastewater surveillance of health parameters, such as the COVID-19 virus and its variants, as a means of supporting public health action.

(5)

According to the 2018 report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) on European waters, small agglomerations put significant pressure on 11 % of the surface water bodies in the Union. To better tackle the pollution from such agglomerations, and to prevent discharges of untreated urban wastewater into the environment, the scope of this Directive should include all agglomerations of 1 000 population equivalent (p.e.) and above.

(6)

In order to ensure the effective treatment of urban wastewater before discharge into the environment, all urban wastewater from agglomerations of 1 000 p.e. and above should be collected in collecting systems, unless Member States justify the need for a derogation for the use of individual systems under this Directive. When delineating their agglomerations, Member States should take into account the indicative reference threshold of 10 to 25 p.e. per hectare, above which the population, possibly combined with economic activities, located in a specific area is considered sufficiently concentrated. Where collecting systems are already in place, Member States should ensure that all sources of domestic wastewater are connected to them.

(7)

Significant investments will be necessary to implement the new requirements introduced by this Directive. It is therefore necessary to take into account the specific situation of each Member State and, where appropriate, adapt the deadlines for the implementation of certain demanding requirements. For instance, Member States having a large number of small agglomerations concerned by the new requirements of this Directive in terms of collection and treatment of urban wastewater for agglomerations of between 1 000 and 2 000 p.e., should be allowed to extend the deadlines for compliance with those new requirements in their first national implementation programme. This should also be the case for Member States having a large number of facilities, for example above 50 %, that need to be upgraded to tertiary treatment in line with the new requirements of this Directive. Agglomerations of below 2 000 p.e. where collecting systems are already in place and discharging urban wastewater into treatment plants located in a different agglomeration should not be counted in the calculation of percentages for the purposes of the derogations from those deadlines. Moreover, the three Member States that acceded to the Union most recently, namely Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, had to make recent investments to implement the requirements of Directive 91/271/EEC. Furthermore, those Member States are characterised by high amounts of rural areas with a high outflux of population, in addition to an ageing rural population. It is therefore necessary to take into account the specific situation of those Member States by allowing them to extend the deadlines for compliance with those new requirements in their first national implementation programme.

(8)

Where archaeologically valuable sites are encountered during infrastructural works, such as the building of collecting systems or urban wastewater treatment plants, such works are often delayed due to the need to perform archaeological studies on the site in accordance with national law. It is therefore appropriate to adapt the implementation deadlines in those specific cases. More specifically, where a Member State establishes that, due to the necessity to preserve cultural heritage, the construction of the required infrastructure is particularly difficult, it should be allowed to adapt the implementation deadlines in specific areas, and update accordingly its national implementation programme. The extensions of the deadlines should be set for each area and kept as short as possible, not exceeding 8 years. Cultural heritage should be understood within the meaning of Article 1 of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention.

(9)

Where it can be demonstrated that the establishment of an urban wastewater collecting system or the connection to a collecting system would produce no benefit for the environment or human health, would not be technically feasible or would involve excessive costs, and only in those cases, Member States should be allowed to use individual systems to collect, store and/or treat urban wastewater, provided that they ensure the same level of protection of the environment and human health as secondary and tertiary treatment. Individual systems can include different types of collection, storage or treatment system, such as nature-based solutions, small-sized treatment systems, or temporary tanks combined with regular evacuation to treatment plants. Member States should also exchange best practices on the use and operation of individual systems.

(10)

Member States should establish national, regional or local registers to identify individual systems and temporary storage used on their territory and take all measures necessary to ensure that the design of such systems is adequate, that the systems are properly maintained and that they are subject to a regular compliance control on the basis of a risk-based approach. In particular, Member States should ensure that individual systems used for the collection, storage or treatment of urban wastewater are impervious and leak-proof, and that monitoring and inspection of the systems are carried out at regular and fixed intervals. Taking into account the disproportionate costs for adapting the design of such systems to the new design requirements, those new design requirements should not apply to systems established prior to the entry into force of this Directive. Where individual systems are used to collect and/or treat more than 2 % of the urban wastewater load at national level from agglomerations of 2 000 p.e. and above, Member States should provide the Commission with justifications for the use of individual systems instead of collecting systems, demonstrating compliance of those systems with established standards under this Directive and describing the measures taken to reduce the use of such systems.

(11)

As a result of precipitation, such as rain, snow or meltwater, storm water overflows and urban runoff represent a sizeable remaining source of pollution discharged into the environment. Such overflows and runoff are expected to increase due to the combined effects of urbanisation and the progressive change of the rain regime linked with climate change. Urban wastewater management infrastructure is therefore particularly vulnerable to climate change. Solutions to reduce that source of pollution should be defined at local level, taking into account the specific local conditions. They should be based on an integrated quantitative and qualitative water management in urban areas. Therefore, Member States should ensure that integrated urban wastewater management plans are established at local level for all agglomerations of 100 000 p.e. and above as those agglomerations are responsible for a significant share of the pollution emitted. Furthermore, integrated urban wastewater management plans should also be put in place for agglomerations of between 10 000 p.e. and 100 000 p.e. where storm water overflows or urban runoff pose a risk for the environment or public health. In those plans, measures should be set out that aim at limiting the pollution from storm water overflows to no more than 2 % of the annual collected urban wastewater load calculated in dry weather flow conditions calculated on the basis of the pollutants in Tables 1 and 2 in Annex I.

(12)

Those plans should include measures to reduce the pollution from storm water overflows and also address the potentially significant pollution coming from separately collected urban runoff, for instance the pollution resulting from first rains after long dry periods in densely populated areas. Those plans should also include measures to prevent pollution at source and favour nature-based solutions over those that would require the establishment of grey infrastructure. Those measures could include preventive temporary measures aimed at avoiding the entry of unpolluted rain waters into collecting systems or temporary storage, including natural water retention, and appropriate treatment of heavily loaded runoff or overflows resulting from first rains. Member States are encouraged to increase green and blue spaces in urban areas and to take into account the Urban Nature platform, which provides guidance and knowledge to support towns and cities. In order to ensure adequate coverage of the integrated urban wastewater management plans and a comprehensive solution to storm water problems, those plans should be established for drainage areas of the agglomerations concerned.

(13)

In order to ensure that the integrated urban wastewater management plans are cost-effective, it is important that they be based on best practices that have already been applied in urban areas. Therefore, the measures to be considered should be based on a thorough analysis of the local conditions and should favour a preventive approach aimed at limiting the collection of unpolluted rain waters and optimising the use of existing infrastructure to generate energy savings and contribute to emission reduction. With a preference for green and blue developments and investments, new grey infrastructure should be envisaged only where absolutely necessary.

(14)

In order to protect the environment, in particular the coastal and marine environment, including the protection of surface, ground and drinking water, and public health from being adversely affected by the discharge of insufficiently treated urban wastewater, secondary treatment should be applied to all discharges of urban wastewater from agglomerations of 1 000 p.e. and above. Due to the expansion of the scope of this Directive to include smaller agglomerations, Member States should be given sufficient time to establish the required infrastructure to meet the obligations set out in this Directive. Similarly, enough time should be given to Member States to adapt their treatment infrastructure for agglomerations discharging their urban wastewater into coastal waters or less sensitive areas where secondary treatment was not required under Directive 91/271/EEC.

(15)

Discharges in high mountain regions, namely regions above an altitude of 1 500 m, and small agglomerations of below 2 000 p.e. in cold climate areas with a quarterly average temperature of below 6 oC in the inlet, in which it is difficult to apply an effective biological treatment because of low temperatures, should be allowed to use treatment less stringent than secondary treatment, provided that detailed studies demonstrate that such discharges do not have adverse effects on the environment or human health. Similarly, discharges into deep marine waters from smaller agglomerations of below 150 000 p.e. located in less-populated outermost regions, with fewer than 275 000 inhabitants characterised by difficult topography, such as steep slopes, and discharging their urban wastewater into deep marine waters in the open ocean, favouring a high level of dilution of those urban wastewater discharges into the receiving waters, should also be able to benefit from that derogation. Nevertheless, in order to ensure the equal treatment of all Member States and a high level of protection of the environment and human health on the whole territory of the Union, that derogation should be limited to 20 years, which is the time required to progressively upgrade the remaining urban wastewater treatment plants to secondary treatment in those areas where secondary treatment might be more difficult to apply. That derogation should be granted provided that detailed studies demonstrate that such discharges do not have adverse effects on the environment or human health and do not impact the compliance of the receiving waters with other relevant Union law, such as Directive 2000/60/EC, 2006/7/EC (8), or 2008/56/EC (9) of the European Parliament and of the Council.

(16)

The evaluation showed that significant reductions of nitrogen and phosphorus emissions were achieved through the implementation of Directive 91/271/EEC. Nevertheless, urban wastewater treatment plants remain, according to the evaluation, an important pathway of those pollutants into the environment, directly leading to eutrophication of water bodies and seas in the Union. Part of this pollution can be avoided as technical progress and best practices in place show that emission limit values established under Directive 91/271/EEC for nitrogen and phosphorus are outdated and should be strengthened, especially for larger treatment plants. Tertiary treatment should be systematically imposed on all urban wastewater treatment plants of 150 000 p.e. and above, as such plants represent an important remaining source of nitrogen and phosphorus discharge.

(17)

Tertiary treatment should also be mandatory in agglomerations of 10 000 p.e. and above that are discharging into areas subject to, or at risk of, eutrophication. In order to ensure that efforts to limit eutrophication are coordinated at the level of the relevant basins for the whole catchment zone, and to ensure the consistent designation of sensitive areas across the Union, areas where eutrophication is considered an issue according to currently available data should be listed in this Directive. Additionally, in order to ensure the coherence of relevant Union law, Member States should identify other areas subject to, or at risk of, eutrophication on their territory, and identify whether those areas are nitrogen- or phosphorus-sensitive, or both nitrogen- and phosphorus-sensitive in particular on the basis of data collected under Council Directive 91/676/EEC (10), Directive 2000/60/EC and Directive 2008/56/EC. The reinforcement of the limit values, the more coherent and inclusive identification of the areas sensitive to eutrophication and the obligation to ensure tertiary treatment for all large facilities would, in combination, contribute to limit eutrophication. Since this will require additional investment at national level, Member States should be given sufficient time to establish the required infrastructure.

(18)

根据委员会的四份通讯，即2018年1月16日的《欧洲循环经济中的塑料战略》，2019年3月11日的《欧洲环境中药品的战略方法》，2020年10月14日的《可持续化学战略——走向无毒环境》以及2021年5月12日的《为所有人健康星球之路——欧盟行动计划：“走向空气、水和土壤零污染”》，最近的科学知识表明，需要采取行动应对微污染物问题，这些微污染物现在在联盟的所有水域中都经常被检测到。一些微污染物即使在低浓度下，如每升微克以下，对公共健康和环境也是有害的。虽然初级、二级和三级处理已经去除了一些微污染物，但为了确保从城市污水中去除大部分剩余的微污染物，应引入额外的处理，即四级处理。四级处理应首先关注有机微污染物，这些微污染物是污染的重要部分，并且已经设计了去除技术。四级处理应基于预防原则，并结合基于风险的方法。因此，所有处理能力为150,000人当量及以上的城市污水处理厂都应提供四级处理。因为这些设施在环境中微污染物排放中占有重要比例，而且通过城市污水处理厂大规模去除微污染物在经济上是划算的。对于15万标人及以上的污水处理厂，成员国应确保优先进行必要的投资，以便对环境和人类健康风险最高的设施立即进行装备。对于1万人标人及以上的聚居区，成员国应要求在根据明确标准确定的对微污染物污染敏感的地区应用四次处理。这样的地区应包括向水体排放的城市污水处理后的水体稀释率低的位置。或接收水体被用于饮用水生产、贝类生产或作为浴场的情况。当风险评估显示不存在微污染物对环境或人类健康的潜在危险时，成员国应能够在这些地区不进行第四级处理。对于所有其他类型的城市人口达到10,000人当量及以上的水体，成员国应根据标准化的风险评估来评估微污染物排放对环境或公共健康的潜在风险，并仅在风险评估结果需要时进行第四级处理。当一个城市人口达到10,000人当量及以上并被识别为对微污染物污染敏感的有多座城市污水处理厂时，只有那些向有风险的地区排放的才应要求进行四重处理。为了给成员国足够的时间来规划和实施必要的基础设施，四重处理的要求应逐步实施，直到2045年，并有明确的中期目标。

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为了确保城市废水处理厂的排放继续符合二级、三级和四级处理的要求，样品应按照本指令的要求进行采集，并且这些样品应符合其规定的技术参数值。为了考虑到这些样品结果可能存在的技术差异，应规定允许不符合这些技术参数值的样品的最大数量。

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为了去除城市污水中的微污染物，需要进行四次处理，这将涉及额外的成本，例如与监测相关的成本以及在某些城市污水厂安装新先进设备的成本。为了覆盖这些额外成本，并根据《欧洲联盟条约》第191(2)条所表达的“污染者付费”原则，必须使在欧盟市场上销售的产品中包含的物质在使用寿命结束时成为城市污水中的微污染物的生产者，对在专业活动中产生的这些物质的额外处理负责。一个扩展生产者责任的系统是实现这一目标的最适当手段。这将限制对纳税人和水费的影响，同时为开发更环保的产品提供激励。在这种情况下，扩展的生产者责任应适用，无论产品是否投放市场，其各个组件是否在成员国或第三国制造，或者生产者是否在联盟内设有注册办事处，还是产品通过数字平台投放市场。目前，药物和化妆品残留物是城市废水中的主要微污染物来源，需要进行四次处理。因此，扩展的生产者责任应适用于这两个产品组。根据城市废水监测和最新的科学数据结果，委员会应定期评估是否应将其他产品纳入延伸生产者责任系统。

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根据现有数据，由于实施扩展生产者责任，可能会导致产品成本的微小增加或市场上相关行业利润空间的微小缩减，这种影响在欧盟层面是边缘性的，并且不会危及这些产品在欧盟市场上的可负担性、可获得性或可接近性。然而，成员国应考虑扩展生产者责任要求在国家层面对产品可获得性、可获得性和可负担性可能产生的影响，特别是那些在欧盟市场上销售的药品，以及这些要求的实施可能对竞争公平性产生的影响。成员国可以采取行动确保有足够的资金。包括通过资助四次处理的一部分费用。鉴于成员国可能会选择不同的实施方法，应关注内部市场的运作，并在对本指令进行任何后续评估时，委员会应评估在这方面可能产生的任何影响。

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然而，延长生产者责任义务的豁免应该是可能的。当一个生产者在其市场上投放的产品所含物质总量较少时，这种情况应该适用，即每年少于1吨，因为在这种情况下，对生产者的额外行政负担与环境利益相比是不成比例的。对于产品的一部分，如果生产者能够证明在产品使用寿命结束时不会产生微污染物，或者可以证明产品的残余物在废水和环境中能够快速生物降解，或者不会到达城市废水处理厂，也应有可能获得豁免。委员会应制定详细标准，以识别在使用寿命结束时不会在城市废水处理过程中产生微污染物的在欧盟市场上投放的产品，同时考虑其危险性和可生物降解性。在制定这些标准时，委员会应考虑欧洲议会和理事会第1272/2008号法规已设定的标准。 (11)，但也可以包括科学或其他可用的技术信息，包括相关的国际标准。这些标准应在本指令规定的扩展生产者责任义务生效之前制定。

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为避免可能的内部市场扭曲，本指令应规定实施延伸生产者责任制度的最低要求，而该制度的实际组织应由国家决定。为了促进替代产生城市废水微污染物残留物的物质和产品，生产者的贡献应与其在市场上投放的产品所含物质的数量以及这些物质及其残留物的危险性成比例。贡献应涵盖但不超过用于微污染物监测活动的投资和运营成本，收集，成员国市场上的产品数量和危害性统计数据的报告和公正验证，以及城市废水四次处理的高效应用。这些贡献还应包括在本指令生效时，已建立的四次处理的运行成本，以满足扩展的生产者责任系统义务。它还应包括已建立的四次处理的部分投资成本，考虑到投资的折旧和本指令规定的融资义务的截止日期。由于城市废水是集体处理的，引入一项要求，即生产商必须加入一个可以代表他们实施扩展生产者责任的集中组织是适当的。

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评估还表明，城市废水处理部门有机会显著减少其自身的能源消耗，并产生可再生能源，例如通过更好地利用城市废水处理厂中的可用表面来生产太阳能，或者通过将污泥转化为沼气以及通过热能或动能或其他可再生能源来源来生产沼气。评估还说明，如果没有明确的法律义务，该部门只能取得部分进展。在此背景下，成员国应被要求确保其领土上所有处理10,000人当量负荷的城市废水处理厂的全年总能源使用量。并且不超过欧洲议会和理事会第 (EU) 2018/2001 号指令第 2(1) 条所定义的可再生能源生产的量。 (12)通过这些城市废水处理厂。为了考虑每个城市废水处理厂的特殊性，优化所需的投资，并提供实现能源中和目标所需的灵活性，同时确保可再生能源生产和节能潜力的充分利用，该目标应在国家层面实现，而不是每个处理厂都实现。城市废水处理厂运营商或其所有者产生的所有可再生能源，无论是在现场还是场外，如水力、太阳能、热能、风能或沼气，都应予以考虑。该目标应逐步实现，并在2045年12月31日前设定中期目标。可以购买一定数量的非化石能源。2040年和2045年，通过使用与条件相关的豁免，不直接与城市废水处理活动相关，来自外部来源的废水处理厂所有者或运营商应不包括购买的可再生能源。实现这一能源中和目标，特别是有助于减少城市废水处理部门的可避免的温室气体排放，同时支持实现2050年气候中和目标及相关国家和欧盟目标，如欧洲议会和理事会2018/842号条例中设定的目标。由城市污水处理厂的所有者或运营者产生或代表其产生的可再生能源不应包括购买的可再生能源。实现这一能源中和目标，将特别有助于减少城市污水处理部门的可避免的温室气体排放，同时支持实现2050年气候中和目标及相关国家和欧盟目标，例如欧洲议会和理事会2018/842号条例中设定的目标。由城市污水处理厂的所有者或运营者产生或代表其产生的可再生能源不应包括购买的可再生能源。实现这一能源中和目标，将特别有助于减少城市污水处理部门的可避免的温室气体排放，同时支持实现2050年气候中和目标及相关国家和欧盟目标，例如欧洲议会和理事会2018/842号条例中设定的目标。在支持实现2050年气候中和目标及相关国家和欧盟目标，如欧洲议会和理事会第2018/842号条例中规定的目标的同时，在支持实现2050年气候中和目标及相关国家和欧盟目标，如欧洲议会和理事会第2018/842号条例中设定的目标的同时， (13)。然而，实现能源中和的举措不应导致甲烷或一氧化二氮排放的增加。根据指令（EU）2018/2001，成员国应促进城市废水处理部门所需的可再生能源项目的许可程序。鼓励基于欧盟的沼气或太阳能生产，同时按照欧洲议会和理事会的能源效率原则（EU）2018/1999加强能源效率措施 (14) 并充分利用数字化，这意味着在制定能源政策和做出相关投资决策时，充分考虑成本效益最高的能源效率措施，这也有助于减少联盟的能源依赖，这是委员会于2022年5月18日发布的题为《REPower EU Plan》的通信中表达的一个目标。这也符合欧洲议会和理事会的指令 (EU) 2018/844 (15) 并且根据指令 (EU) 2018/2001，其中城市废水处理厂被确定为可再生能源的“首选”地区，这意味着被指定为特别适合安装可再生能源生产植物的地点。为了通过为每个城市废水处理厂和收集系统采取最佳措施来实现能源中和的目标，成员国应确保能源审计符合欧洲议会和理事会的指令 (EU) 2023/1791 的定义 (16)每四年进行一次审计。这些审计还应包括识别能源消耗潜力的降低，经济有效的废热回收和利用，无论是现场还是通过区域能源系统，或根据欧洲议会和理事会2012/27/EU指令附件六规定的经济有效的可再生能源的使用或生产 (17)。

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由于甲烷排放减少对减缓气候变化的影响大于二氧化碳排放减少的 proportionate，且鉴于城市废水处理部门被确定为甲烷排放的主要排放部门之一，该部门应按照在格拉斯哥联合国气候变化大会（COP 26）上 launched 的全球甲烷承诺的指示，监测并努力减少甲烷排放 (18)，类似于欧洲议会和理事会的欧洲议会和理事会的甲烷排放减少（欧盟）2024/1787(18)，以确保城市废水处理部门在最迟2050年实现气候中和目标的贡献，正如《欧盟》2021/1119所规定的那样。

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由于水污染具有跨境性，需要邻近的成员国或第三国在应对这种污染并确定措施以解决其来源方面进行合作，因此，如果一个成员国或第三国的城市废水排放引起的严重水污染影响或可能影响另一个成员国或第三国的水质量，成员国应相互通知或通知相关第三国。在发生显著影响下游水体的意外污染时，此类信息应立即提供，并且应在适当的时候进行回应。当成员国之间或与第三国之间已经就环境水问题达成先前协议时，通过这些协议进行的合作可以被考虑。委员会应了解此类污染，并在必要时根据成员国的要求参加相关会议。同样重要的是解决与一些成员国共享同一水体的第三国的跨界污染。为了应对来自或到达第三国的污染，可以与第三国在联合国欧洲经济委员会（UNECE）《关于保护和利用跨界河流和国际湖泊的公约》的框架内进行合作和协调。同样重要的是，解决与一些成员国共享同一水体的第三国的跨界污染。为了应对来自或到达第三国的污染，可以按照《联合国欧洲经济委员会关于保护和利用跨界河流和国际湖泊的公约》的框架，与第三国进行合作和协调。同样重要的是，解决与一些成员国共享同一水体的第三国的跨界污染。为了应对来自或到达第三国的污染，可以依据《联合国欧洲经济委员会关于保护和利用跨界河流和国际湖泊的公约》与第三国进行合作和协调。与第三国的合作与协调可以在联合国欧洲经济委员会（UNECE）《关于保护和利用跨界河流和国际湖泊的公约》的框架内进行与第三国的合作与协调可以在联合国欧洲经济委员会（UNECE）《关于保护和利用跨界河流和国际湖泊的公约》的框架内进行 (19) 或其他相关的区域公约，例如区域海洋或河流公约。

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为了确保环境和人类健康的保护，成员国应确保按照本指令要求建设的收集系统和城市废水处理厂在所有正常的地方气候条件下都能确保足够的性能。由于城市废水基础设施已被欧盟议会和理事会的指令（EU）2022/2557确认为关键实体 (20)，成员国还应确保在设计、建造和运营城市废水处理厂和收集系统时，评估其因气候变化而发生极端事件的脆弱性。

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城市废水处理厂也接收非居民废水，包括工业废水，这些废水中可能含有指令91/271/EEC未明确涵盖的各种污染物，例如重金属、微塑料、微污染物和其他化学物质，包括全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）。这种非居民废水可能来自工业、商业设施或医院和其他医疗机构。在大多数情况下，人们对这种污染缺乏了解和认识，这可能导致处理过程的恶化，加剧受纳水体的污染，同时阻止污泥的回收和处理后废水的再利用。成员国应定期监测和报告进入城市污水处理厂并排放到水体中的非住宅污染。为了防止连接到收集系统的工业或企业排放的非住宅废水污染，在源头上，应由主管当局或适当机构事先制定法规或具体许可，或两者兼有。为了确保收集系统和城市污水处理厂在技术上能够接收和处理来污染，应在颁发这些许可或采用这些事先法规之前，咨询和通知管理接收非住宅废水的城市污水处理厂的运营商，并应在需要时能够进行咨询。为使其能够调整其处理工艺，对所发出的许可进行审查。在来水中有非饮用水污染时，成员国应采取适当措施，通过加强收集系统中污染物的监测，减少污染源，必要时审查向相关、相连的城镇污水集中处理设施提供的许可。连接的城镇污水处理厂。连接的城镇污水处理厂。

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联盟的水资源日益受到压力，导致联盟某些地区的水资源永久或暂时短缺。通过更广泛地重复利用处理过的城市废水，限制从地表和地下水体中提取淡水，可以提高联盟应对水资源压力增加的能力。因此，应鼓励并适用于所有适当用途在适当情况下重复利用处理过的城市废水，特别是在缺水地区，同时确保接收水体的最小生态流量，并考虑到满足《2000/60/EC指令》中规定的接收水体良好生态和化学状态目标的需要。为了实现这一目标，成员国在根据《2000/60/EC指令》进行影响评估时，应监测处理过的城市废水再利用对受纳水体最小生态流量的影响。在评估处理过的城市废水的再利用潜力时，应考虑到《2000/60/EC指令》下制定的河流 basin管理计划以及《欧洲议会和理事会2020/741号条例》第2(2)条中成员国的决定。在评估城市废水处理后重复使用潜力时，应考虑到根据《2000/60/EC指令》建立的河流 basin 管理计划以及欧洲议会和理事会《2020/741号条例》第2(2)条规定的成员国决定。在评估城市废水处理后重复使用潜力时，应考虑到根据《2000/60/EC指令》建立的河流 basin 管理计划以及欧洲议会和理事会《2020/741号条例》第2(2)条规定的成员国决定。 (21)以及确保符合《2000/60/EC指令》定义的接收体良好生态和化学状态目标的需要。加强城镇污水的处理要求，以及更好地监测、追踪和减少污染的行动，将对处理后的城镇污水质量产生影响，因此将支持污水的再利用。当污水的再利用用于农业灌溉时，应按照《(EU) 2020/741条例》进行。为确保处理后的城镇污水安全再利用，成员国应考虑对将被再利用或即将被再利用的城镇污水进行第四级处理。在成员国层面的水弹性战略中，当这些战略可用时，应考虑促进处理过的城市废水再利用的措施以及废水自身的再利用。

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根据《(EU) 2020/741》法规，城市废水中的营养物质在城市废水经处理后可在农业中重复使用时是有益的。在这种情况下，成员国应能够在确保环境和人类健康最高保护水平的特定条件下，豁免本指令规定的三级处理义务，仅针对城市废水经处理后在农业中重复使用的部分。

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为了确保本指令的正确实施，特别是尊重排放限值，对受处理的城市废水排放到环境中进行监测是重要的。监测应通过在国家层面建立强制性的事前法规或具体授权，或两者兼有，来实现，以便将受处理的城市废水排放到环境中。此外，为了防止使用生物介质的城市废水处理厂意外将生物介质排放到环境中，必须在排放授权或法规，或两者兼有，中包含具体的义务，以持续监测和防止这种排放。这些生物介质通常由塑料制成，可能包括但不限于生物载体、生物珠或聚苯乙烯珠。

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在必要时，成员国应根据其人口规模及其所产生的生活污水量，调整其城市污水收集和处理基础设施，以继续符合本指令的要求。只要满足本指令规定的所有条件，成员国在建设及调整此类基础设施时，生活污水排放对水体可能产生的影响不应被视为违反《2000/60/EC指令》的义务。

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为了确保环境的保护，应针对某些工业部门的可生物降解的非生活污水直接排放到环境中提出适当的的要求。这些要求应确保某些工业部门的直接排放根据环境保护和人类健康的需要，经过二级、三级和四级处理，并且在最终分析中，处理后的污水设定的参数得到遵守或确保相同的环境保护水平。

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According to Article 168(1) TFEU, Union action complements national policies and is to be directed towards improving public health and preventing diseases. In order to ensure optimal use of relevant public health data from urban wastewater, urban wastewater surveillance should be set up and used for preventive or early warning purposes, for instance in the detection of specific viruses in urban wastewater as a signal of the emergence of epidemics or pandemics. Member States should establish a dialogue and coordination between competent authorities responsible for public health and competent authorities responsible for urban wastewater management. In the context of that coordination, roles, responsibilities and costs should be clearly allocated among those competent authorities. Member States should develop a list of parameters relevant for public health to be monitored in urban wastewater as well as the frequency and location of the sampling, taking into account the recommendations of, among others, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and of the World Health Organization (WHO) and consider the following health parameters for inclusion in such a list: SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, poliovirus, influenza virus, emerging pathogens and any other public health parameters that may be considered relevant. On the basis of information gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic and experience gained from the implementation of Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/472 (22), Member States should be required to monitor relevant health parameters in urban wastewater in the event of a health emergency. In order to ensure that harmonised methods are used, Member States should, to the extent possible, use the sampling and analysis methods set out in Recommendation (EU) 2021/472 for the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.

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The Union recognises the importance of tackling the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in particular in the Communication from the Commission of 29 June 2017 entitled ‘A European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)’, and adopted the European One Health Action Plan against AMR. According to the WHO, urban wastewater is recognised and documented as a major source of antimicrobial agents and their metabolites, as well as antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and their genes. In order to increase the knowledge on the main sources of AMR, a monitoring obligation for the presence of AMR in urban wastewater should be introduced to further develop our scientific knowledge and potentially take adequate action in the future.

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This Directive acknowledges the ‘One Health’ approach, as recognised by the WHO, to be an integrated and unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems. The ‘One Health’ approach recognises that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment, including ecosystems, are closely interlinked and interdependent.

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In order to protect the environment and human health, Member States should identify and assess the risks caused by urban wastewater management. The risk assessment could include a broad chemical screening, including chemical mixtures, or biological effect-based methods, or both, in order to identify substances that cause concern for, inter alia, aquatic life or the quality of drinking or bathing water. On the basis of that identification, and where necessary to comply with the requirements of the Union water legislation, Member States should take measures for the collection and treatment of urban wastewater that are more stringent than the measures required to comply with the minimum requirements set out in this Directive. In line with Article 191(2) TFEU and in addition to the measures provided for or taken in accordance with Article 11(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC, Member States should promote, as a priority, the control of pollutants at source to prevent the pollution of receiving water bodies. In particular, Member States should take preventive measures to limit the risk that intentionally and unintentionally released microplastics reach urban wastewater and sludge.

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Depending on the situation, those more stringent measures can include, inter alia, the establishment of collecting systems, the development of integrated urban wastewater management plans or the application of secondary, tertiary or quaternary treatment to urban wastewater for agglomerations or urban wastewater treatment plants that do not reach the p.e. thresholds triggering the application of the standard requirements. They can also include treatment that is more advanced than the treatment necessary to respect the minimum requirements or disinfection of treated urban wastewater necessary to comply with Directive 2006/7/EC.

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Target 6.2 of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation requires Member States, by 2030, to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. Sanitation facilities should allow the safe management and disposal of human urine, faeces and menstrual blood and the changing of menstrual products. Furthermore, Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights states that everyone has the right to access essential services of good quality, including water and sanitation. Against that background, and in accordance with the recommendations in the WHO Guidelines for Sanitation and Health (23) and the Protocol on Water and Health to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, done in London on 17 June 1999, Member States should tackle the issue of access to sanitation at national level. That should be done through actions ensuring access to sanitation for all, for example by setting up sanitation facilities in public spaces, as well as by encouraging the availability of appropriate sanitation facilities in public administrations and public buildings free of charge or making them affordable to all, including all kinds of facilities and services, such as flush and dry toilets. They should be safely managed, which means that they should be accessible to all, where appropriate, at all times, including for people with particular needs, such as children, older persons, persons with disabilities and homeless people, that they should be placed in a location that ensures maximum safety for users, and that they should be hygienically and technically safe to use. Such facilities should also be sufficient in number to ensure that the needs of people are met and waiting times are not unreasonably long. The sufficient number of sanitation facilities in public spaces should be decided at the appropriate level, taking into account the principle of subsidiarity.

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The specific situation of minority cultures, such as Roma and Travellers, whether settled or not, and in particular their lack of access to sanitation, was acknowledged in the Communication from the Commission of 7 October 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation’, which calls for increasing effective equal access to essential services. Overall, it is appropriate that Member States pay particular attention to vulnerable groups or groups that are marginalised due to factors related to their socio-economic situation, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, disability, homelessness, legal status, religious conviction or other reasons by taking the measures necessary to ensure access to sanitation for those groups. It is important that the identification of those groups be consistent with Article 16(1) of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council (24). Measures to improve access to sanitation by vulnerable and marginalised groups might include providing sanitation facilities in public and private spaces for free or for a low service fee as well as in public administration buildings, improving or maintaining the connection to adequate systems to collect urban wastewater, and raising awareness of the nearest sanitation facilities.

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According to the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, adopted by the Council on 17 June 2019, particular attention has to be given to the needs of women and girls, as they are particularly at risk and exposed to attacks, sexual and gender-based violence, harassment and other threats to their safety when accessing sanitation facilities outside their homes. This is in line with the Council Conclusions on Water Diplomacy, adopted on 19 November 2018, which reaffirm the importance of integrating a gender perspective into water diplomacy. Therefore, Member States should pay particular attention to women and girls as being a vulnerable group and should take the measures necessary to improve or maintain safe access to sanitation for them.

(42)

The evaluation concluded that sludge management could be improved to better align it with the principles of the circular economy and of the waste hierarchy as defined in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (25). The actions to better monitor and reduce pollution at source from non-domestic discharges will contribute to improving the quality of the sludge produced and ensure its safe use in agriculture. In order to ensure the proper and safe recovery of nutrients, including the critical substance phosphorus, from sludge, a minimum combined reuse and recycling rate should be set at Union level. Member States should be able to choose whether to reuse or recycle, or both, urban wastewater or sludge, or both, in order to recover phosphorus. The combined minimum reuse and recycling rate should take into account the phosphorus content of sludge, which can vary from one area to another. It should also take into account the level of saturation of each national market, for example the availability of other sources of phosphorus from organic sources, for instance from livestock farming, and the possibilities of its absorption in agriculture. Member States should be encouraged to monitor micropollutants in sludge, particularly where there is a risk of accumulation of micropollutants in sludge, and when it is reused in agriculture in order to increase knowledge about its presence and to protect the environment and human health. The proper and safe recovery of nutrients and their reuse in agriculture should be encouraged in order to support the resilience and sustainability of the agricultural sector and contribute to the strategic autonomy of the Union fertiliser industry. In that context, Member States should, while taking into account national and local valorisation options, take measures to encourage the production and purchasing of recovered nutrients from urban wastewater and sludge. When reusing sludge in agriculture particular attention should be paid to microplastics. Microplastics should therefore be systematically monitored when sludge is reused in agriculture. This information is indispensable for the safe management of sludge in agriculture and any possible review of relevant Union policy.

(43)

Adequate monitoring is necessary to verify compliance with the new requirements of this Directive concerning micropollutants, non-domestic pollution, energy neutrality, storm water overflows and urban runoff. Monitoring should be supported, where technically feasible and appropriate, through the use of digital tools. In particular for the operational management of collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants, the use of digital tools should be systematically considered. To verify the compliance of the quaternary treatment concerning the reduction of micropollutants in urban wastewater discharges, it is sufficient to monitor a limited set of representative micropollutants. The monitoring frequencies should be built on the current best practices, as currently practised in Switzerland. To remain cost-effective, those obligations should be adapted to the size of the urban wastewater treatment plants and of the agglomerations. For the purposes of such monitoring, this Directive provides for sampling to be carried out. Each time sampling is carried out, a sample is taken both at the inlet and outlet of the urban wastewater treatment plant. The monitoring will also contribute to providing data for the overall Environmental Monitoring Framework as set up under the 8th Environmental Action Programme (26), and more specifically to feeding the Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook Framework underpinning it, set out in the Commission Communication of 12 May 2021 entitled ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”’.

(44)

Microplastics and relevant micropollutants should be monitored, where relevant, in storm water overflow discharges and in discharges of urban runoff from separate systems with a representative sampling programme allowing for concentration estimation with a view to modelling water quality. GHG emissions should be monitored by means of analysis, calculations or modelling, where appropriate.

(45)

To ensure the protection of the environment and that adequate action is taken under any risk assessment to be carried out for the implementation of this Directive as well as for the implementation of other Union law, Member States should monitor a broad spectrum of pollutants at the inlets and outlets of the urban wastewater treatment plants. To avoid an unnecessary burden, only pollutants that can be expected to be found in urban wastewater should be monitored, taking into account the high variety of pollutants which could reach urban wastewater treatment plants, including from non-domestic wastewater sources. Member States should be able to reduce the monitoring frequency if pollutants are not found in subsequent sampling campaigns. More specifically, recent data shows that PFAS are found in urban wastewater, sometimes at high concentrations. The most recent scientific evidence shows that PFAS are a concern for the environment and for public health due to their persistence. It is therefore essential to better understand the pathways of PFAS into the environment and to monitor them in the inlet and outlet of the urban wastewater treatment plants. This monitoring should start in the first instance where the discharges reach catchment areas used for the abstraction of drinking water, due to the high risks of being exposed to PFAS and their impact on health.

(46)

In order to reduce the administrative burden and better use the possibilities offered by digitalisation, the reporting on the implementation of this Directive should be improved and simplified by removing the obligation for Member States to report every two years to the Commission and for the Commission to publish bi-yearly reports. It should be replaced by a requirement for Member States to improve, with the support of the EEA, the existing national standardised data sets established under Directive 91/271/EEC, and to regularly update them. The Commission will use those improved data sets to verify compliance with this Directive. It is appropriate for the reporting model to be developed by the EEA in collaboration with Member States. Access to the national databases should be provided to the Commission and the EEA. In order to ensure complete information on the application of this Directive, the data sets should include information on compliance of urban wastewater treatment plants with the treatment requirements (pass/fail, loads and concentration of pollutants discharged), on the level of achievement of the objectives of energy neutrality, on GHG emissions of the treatment plants above 10 000 p.e. and on measures taken by the Member States in the context of storm water overflows and urban runoff, access to sanitation and treatment by individual systems. Moreover, full consistency with Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (27) should be ensured in order to optimise the use of the data, as well as to support full transparency. The information collected through those data sets should support a comparison of, and an exchange of best practices at Union level with regard to, the performance of urban wastewater treatment plants. The administrative burden of providing information and data to the public should at all times be such as to respect the principle of proportionality.

(47)

The implementation of Directive 91/271/EEC is financed through water tariffs and public budgets, including Union funding. In the future, the extended producer responsibility should be such as to ensure that the costs of the quaternary treatment are at least partially borne by the industries concerned and complemented by other types of financing. In the past, the implementation of Directive 91/271/EEC was also substantially supported by the Union’s Cohesion Policy and programmes under Horizon 2020 and LIFE. In order to ensure the timely and proper implementation of this Directive, it is essential that Member States establish a national implementation programme including long-term programming of the required investments accompanied by a financing strategy. Those national implementation programmes should be reported to the Commission. To limit the administrative burden, that requirement should not apply to Member States in which more than 95 % of the agglomerations are compliant with the main obligations to treat and collect wastewater. To continue the implementation of this Directive, the Commission should consider the national implementation programmes reported by Member States for the preparation of the next multiannual financial framework and those following thereafter and the Member States should put in place the required extended producer responsibility system without delay.

(48)

The urban wastewater collection and treatment sector is specific, operating as a captive market, with public and small enterprises being connected to the collecting system without being able to choose their operators. It is therefore important to ensure public access to operators’ key performance indicators, such as the level of treatment achieved, the costs of treatment, the energy used and produced, and the related GHG emissions and carbon footprint. In order to make the public more aware of the implications of urban wastewater treatment, key information on the annual wastewater collection and treatment costs for each household should be provided, at least in agglomerations above 10 000 p.e., and preferably above 1 000 p.e., in an easily accessible manner, for instance on the invoices, while other detailed information should be accessible in a user-friendly format online, on a website of the operator or the competent authority.

(49)

Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (28) guarantees the right of access to environmental information in the Member States in line with the 1998 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the ‘Aarhus Convention’) (29). The Aarhus Convention encompasses broad obligations related both to making environmental information available upon request and actively disseminating such information. It is important that the provisions of this Directive related to access to information and data-sharing arrangements complement that Directive, by establishing the obligation to make available to the public online information on the collection and treatment of urban wastewater in a user-friendly manner, without creating a separate legal regime.

(50)

The effectiveness of this Directive and its aim of protecting public health in the context of the Union’s environment policy require that natural or legal persons, or where appropriate their duly constituted organisations, be able to rely on it in legal proceedings and that the national courts be able to take this Directive into consideration as an element of Union law in order, inter alia, to review decisions of a national authority where appropriate. In addition, according to settled case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, under the principle of sincere cooperation laid down in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), it is for the courts of the Member States to ensure judicial protection of a person’s rights under Union law. Furthermore, Article 19(1) TEU requires Member States to provide remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law. This should be done in accordance with national rules, without depriving the provision on compensation of its effectiveness. In addition, in accordance with the Aarhus Convention, members of the public concerned are to have access to justice in order to contribute to the protection of the right to live in an environment which is adequate for personal health and well-being.

(51)

To adapt this Directive to scientific and technical progress, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending certain parts of the Annexes with regard to the adaptation of monitoring to state-of-the-art methods for monitoring, including with a view to making optimal use of digital tools and taking into account the relevant methods used in other relevant Union law, and evaluation of results for the requirements for the tertiary and quaternary treatment, and the requirements for prior regulations and specific authorisations for discharges of non-domestic wastewater into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants and in respect of supplementing this Directive by specifying a minimum combined reuse and recycling rate for phosphorus from sludge and from urban wastewater, taking into account available technologies and resources as well as the economic viability for phosphorus recovery and by updating the information provided to the public online and to households. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (30). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(52)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission for the adoption of standards for the design of individual systems, for the establishment of the format of the reporting and the level of detail of the information in relation to individual systems, for establishing the format and the method of the risk assessment to be used in the context of the quaternary treatment, for the adoption of monitoring and assessment methods for the indicators of the quaternary treatment and the objectives regarding energy neutrality, for the establishment of common conditions and criteria for the application of the exemption for certain products from extended producer responsibility, for establishing methodologies for supporting the development of integrated urban wastewater management plans, for the development of alternative indicators to the load-based indicative objective of pollution reduction based for instance on volume, number of occurrences of storm water overflows, volume of the discharged urban runoff, or other relevant alternative indicators, and for establishing a minimum frequency of sampling and methodologies for measuring antimicrobial resistance, direct and indirect GHG emissions and microplastics in urban wastewater and sludge, for the establishment of a minimum list of relevant pollutants likely to be found in urban wastewater including a methodology for identifying relevant pollutants likely to be found in urban wastewater and criteria for revising the exclusion of some pollutants to be monitored, for the establishment of a harmonised methodology for measuring ‘Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Total’ and ‘Sum of PFAS’ in urban wastewater and for the adoption of the format of, and modalities for presenting, the information to be provided by Member States and compiled by the EEA on the implementation of this Directive. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (31).

(53)

Member States should lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and should take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, and should, as applicable, take into account the financial situation of the natural or legal person held responsible.

(54)

Pursuant to the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, the Commission should carry out an evaluation of this Directive within a certain period of time from the date set for its transposition. That evaluation should be based on experience gained and data collected during the implementation of this Directive, on any available WHO recommendations, and on relevant scientific, analytical, and epidemiological data. In the evaluation, particular attention should be given to an analysis of the adequacy of the public health parameters used in urban wastewater surveillance, an analysis of the added value of a mandatory monitoring of public health parameters, an analysis of the possible necessity to adapt the list of products to be covered by extended producer responsibility systems including the conditions for exemptions, an analysis of the possible impacts on the functioning of the internal market of the potentially different contribution rates for producers set by Member States, an analysis of the feasibility and appropriateness of the development of an extended producer responsibility system for products generating PFAS and microplastics, an analysis of the added value and the appropriateness of requiring mandatory national water reuse plans including national targets and measures, an evaluation of the objective of energy neutrality in order to analyse the technical and economic feasibility and environmental and climate benefits to achieve a higher level of energy autonomy in the sector, an evaluation of the possibilities for measuring direct and indirect GHG emissions emitted from the urban wastewater sector, an evaluation of the possibility of reaching climate neutrality for the urban wastewater treatment sector, and the time required to do so, as well as the feasibility and appropriateness of setting Union minimum reuse and recycling rates for nitrogen from sludge or from urban wastewater, or both.

(55)

Directive 91/271/EEC provides for specific deadlines for Mayotte due to its inclusion in 2014 as an outermost region within the meaning of Article 349 TFEU. Therefore, the application of the obligations to establish collecting systems and apply secondary treatment to urban wastewater from agglomerations of 2 000 p.e. and above should be deferred with respect to Mayotte.

(56)

It is appropriate to consider the specific situation of Mayotte and the Union’s other outermost regions, as listed in Article 349 TFEU, which provides for specific measures to support those regions. In terms of urban wastewater treatment of those territories, special attention should be given to the difficult topography and insularity of those territories.

(57)

In order to ensure the continuity of the protection of the environment, it is important that Member States maintain at least the current level of tertiary treatment until the new requirements for the reduction of phosphorus and nitrogen become applicable. Therefore, Article 5 of Directive 91/271/EEC should continue to apply until those new requirements become applicable.

(58)

Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to protect the environment and public health, to make progress in achieving climate neutrality for urban wastewater collection and treatment activities, to improve access to sanitation and to ensure the regular surveillance of parameters relevant to public health, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(59)

The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive amendment as compared to Directive 91/271/EEC. The obligation to transpose the provisions which are unchanged arises under that Directive.

(60)

This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time limits for the transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Part B of Annex VII,

(1)

‘urban wastewater’ means any of the following:

(2)

‘domestic wastewater’ means wastewater from residential settlements, services and institutions which originates predominantly from the human metabolism or from household activities, or from both;

(3)

‘non-domestic wastewater’ means wastewater, other than domestic wastewater and urban runoff, which is discharged from premises used for the exercise of a trade or industrial or economic activities;

(4)

‘agglomeration’ means an area where the population expressed in population equivalent, combined or not with economic activities, is sufficiently concentrated for urban wastewater to be collected and conducted to one or more urban wastewater treatment plants or to one or more final discharge points;

(5)

‘urban runoff’ means precipitation in agglomerations collected by combined or separate sewers;

(6)

‘storm water overflow’ means discharge of untreated urban wastewater into receiving waters from combined sewers caused by precipitation or system failures;

(7)

‘collecting system’ means a system of conduits which collects and conducts urban wastewater;

(8)

‘combined sewer’ means a single conduit that collects and conducts urban wastewater, including urban runoff;

(9)

‘separate sewer’ means a conduit that separately collects and conducts one of the following:

(10)

‘1 population equivalent’ or ‘(1 p.e.)’ means the organic biodegradable load per day, having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 60 g of oxygen per day;

(11)

‘primary treatment’ means treatment of urban wastewater by a physical or chemical process, or both, involving settlement of suspended solids, or other processes in which the BOD5 of the incoming wastewater is reduced by at least 20 % before discharge and the total suspended solids of the incoming wastewater are reduced by at least 50 %;

(12)

‘secondary treatment’ means treatment of urban wastewater by a process generally involving biological treatment with a secondary settlement or another process which reduces biodegradable organic matter from urban wastewater;

(13)

‘tertiary treatment’ means treatment of urban wastewater by a process which reduces nitrogen or phosphorus, or both, in urban wastewater;

(14)

‘quaternary treatment’ means treatment of urban wastewater by a process which reduces a broad spectrum of micropollutants in urban wastewater;

(15)

‘sludge’ means organic and inorganic residue resulting from the treatment of urban wastewater from an urban wastewater treatment plant, excluding grit, grease, other debris and any other screenings and residues from the pre-treatment step;

(16)

‘eutrophication’ means the enrichment of water by nutrients, especially compounds of nitrogen or phosphorus, or both, causing an accelerated growth of algae and higher forms of plant life to produce an undesirable disturbance to the balance of organisms present in the water and to the quality of the water concerned;

(17)

‘micropollutant’ means a substance as defined in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (32), including its breakdown products, that is usually present in the aquatic environment, urban wastewater or sludge and that can be considered hazardous to the environment or human health on the basis of the relevant criteria set out in Parts 3 and 4 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, even in low concentrations;

(18)

‘dilution ratio’ means the ratio of the average over the last five years of annual flow of the receiving waters at the point of discharge to the average over the last five years of the annual discharge volume of urban wastewater into surface waters;

(19)

‘producer’ means any manufacturer, importer or distributor that on a professional basis places products on the market of a Member State, including by means of distance contracts as defined in Article 2(7) of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (33);

(20)

‘producer responsibility organisation’ means a nationally recognised organisation established to enable producers to fulfil their obligations under Articles 9 and 10;

(21)

‘sanitation’ means facilities and services for the safe, hygienic, secure, and socially and culturally acceptable management and disposal of human urine and faeces, and for the changing and disposal of menstrual products, that provide privacy and ensure dignity;

(22)

‘antimicrobial resistance’ means the ability of micro-organisms to survive or to grow in the presence of a concentration of an antimicrobial agent which is usually sufficient to inhibit or kill micro-organisms of the same species;

(23)

‘One Health’ means One Health as defined in Article 3, point (7), of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (34);

(24)

‘public concerned’ means the public affected or likely to be affected by, or having an interest in, the taking of a decision for the implementation of the obligations laid down in Article 6, 7 or 8 of this Directive; for the purposes of this definition, non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of the environment or human health and meeting any requirements under national law are deemed to have an interest;

(25)

‘biomedia’ means any support, usually made of plastic, used for the development of the bacteria needed for the treatment of urban wastewater;

(26)

‘placing on the market’ means the first making available of a product on the market of a Member State;

(27)

‘load’ means the amount of organic biodegradable matter measured as BOD5 in urban wastewater, expressed in p.e., or of any pollutant or nutrient, expressed in mass units per time;

(28)

‘individual system’ means a sanitation facility that collects, stores, treats or disposes of domestic wastewater from buildings or parts of buildings not connected to a collecting system.

(a)

identify people without access, or with limited access, to sanitation facilities, paying special attention to vulnerable and marginalised groups, and provide reasons for such lack of access;

(b)

assess the options for improving access to sanitation facilities for such people;

(c)

for all agglomerations of 10 000 p.e. and above, encourage the establishment of a sufficient number of sanitation facilities in public spaces which are freely and, in particular for women, safely accessible and ensure the provision of appropriate information about those facilities to the public;

(d)

for all agglomerations of 5 000 p.e. and above, encourage competent authorities to make available a sufficient number of free sanitation facilities in public buildings, in particular in administrative buildings;

(e)

encourage the making available of sanitation facilities for all, for free or for a low service fee, in restaurants, shops and similar private spaces accessible to the public.