European Union's Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive update (November 2024)

The EU-UWWTD is a directive aimed at protecting the environment and public health from urban and industrial wastewater discharges. It sets standards for collecting, treating, and discharging wastewater, requiring EU Member States to implement appropriate infrastructure and processes to reduce water pollution.

In response to the need to further reduce wastewater pollution, regulations are being revised to address previously unregulated pollutants, extend coverage to smaller agglomerations, and reduce energy consumption in the wastewater treatment sector. The previous EU-UWWTD lacked formal standards for environmental AMR surveillance, but this is now set to change. The latest revisions, started in October 2022, have led to the inclusion of AMR monitoring in the updated Directive adopted by the European Parliament and now approved by the European Council.

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What this means:‍

• The EU acknowledges the importance of action against AMR as well as the key role of urban wastewater to mitigate our impact on its spread.
• An obligation to monitor the presence of AMR in urban wastewater to advance knowledge in the area should be implemented.
• The directive will now be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will enter into force on the 20th day following publication.

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Next steps:

• The timeline is the same, the European Commission will now have 18 months to determine the minimum frequency of sampling and a harmonised methodology for measuring antimicrobial resistance in urban wastewater.
• For agglomerations of 100 000 p.e. and above, Member States are required to implement AMR monitoring in urban wastewater within two years of the implementing act​.

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For more info, find the official press release through this link.

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(Photo credit: Adam B., through Pexels.com)

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