The European Commission has decided to refer Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union’s Court of Justice for failure to adequately collect and treat urban wastewater.
The EU’s Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive mandates that the water must be collected and treated before it is discharged into the environment, for the sake of both human and environmental health.
Towns and cities (agglomerations) need to put in place the necessary infrastructure to collect and treat their urban waste water.
Bulgaria and Romania, which both joined the EU in 2007, were granted derogations to comply with the directive as part of their EU Accession Treaty by 2010.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria in July 2017, followed by a reasoned opinion in May 2020.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Romania in June 2018, followed by an additional letter of formal notice in October 2020 and a reasoned opinion in February 2022.
The additional letter of formal notice was sent to Romania to include big agglomerations that were not in the scope of the initial letter of formal notice in June 2018.
Now, the European Commission is releasing its November package of infringement decisions, which includes the fact that efforts from both Romania and Bulgaria have been insufficient in this regard.
Ten big agglomerations with more than 10,000 residents in Bulgaria do not meet the directive’s requirements for wastewater collecting systems. Additionally, 20 agglomerations are not properly treating their wastewater, and in another 30 big agglomerations, the treatment of the water before discharge into sensitive areas is not stringent enough.
In Romania, 150 big agglomerations fail to meet the directive’s requirements for collecting systems, while 154 do not treat their wastewater adequately, the Commission said. At the same time, 155 big agglomerations fail to implement stricter treatment measures for wastewater before discharging it into sensitive areas.
Romanian towns and cities had until December 31, 2015, to comply with the directive. The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the country in June 2018, followed by an additional letter of formal notice in October 2020 and a reasoned opinion in February 2022.
All this despite the EC’s claim that EU funding should have been sufficient.
