Brussels, 22 April 1999
The European Commission decided to make an application to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against Belgium for non-respect of the European Union's (EU) Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment).
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive aims to protect the environment from discharges of urban waste water, in particular by requiring that cities, towns and other population centres meet minimum waste water collection and treatment standards by deadlines stipulated in the Directive. In as much as untreated or inadequately treated urban waste water is one of the chief forms of water pollution, the Directive has a key role to play in improving EU water quality.
Member States were obliged to prepare implementation programmes by 31 December 1993, and to communicate information on these programmes to the Commission by 31 June 1994.
The decision against Belgium concerns the implementation programme transmitted by Belgium to the Commission. This programme is not in conformity with the Directive with regard to the city of Brussels because it indicates that the deadline fixed by the Directive for the installation of a collection system and treatment plants for the city (31 December 1998) will not be respected.
It is evident from the response of Belgium to the Commission's Reasoned Opinion (notified in 1998)(1) that the largest of the two new treatment plants foreseen for Brussels will only be completed in 2003, five years after the expiry of the relevant deadline.
At present, untreated waste water from Brussels is discharged directly to the river Senne. Within the city centre, this has been covered over to avoid diseases and odours, but downstream of Brussels it can be considered more of an open sewer than a river. The Senne feeds into the river Schelde, which contributes significantly to the pollution of the heavily eutrophic coastal waters of the North Sea.
The above decision reflects the Commission's concern to see this key Directive fully respected across the EU.
(1)IP/98/1149 dated December 18,1998 (Europa internet web)
