WRITTEN QUESTION E-2409/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (10 July 1997)

Subject: Threat to the environment in the Po valley

The Po valley region is facing a genuine environmental disaster, particularly given the fact that a city the size of Milan has no water purification system at all and that the population, 25% of which live in small rural settlements, is not served by a sewage system.

The Po was once a proper river but has now been reduced by drought to a foul-smelling stream full of noxious substances, which have even polluted the river's banks.

The river's once full tributaries are also suffering pollution from phosphorous and nitrogen and are unable to join the main river but are running parallel to it, forming separate rivers in the same river bed.

It is estimated that 757 600 tonnes of nitrogen and 161 300 tonnes of phosphorous are poured into the Adriatic Sea each year with nothing being done to end the cycle of pollution. The responsibility lies both with industry, with one and a half million companies discharging waste into the river, and agriculture, with the Po valley being home to 55% of the country's cattle farms, which produce large quantities of organic waste.

Will the Commission undertake a study for the purpose of drawing up an environmental rescue plan for the Po valley, with directives imposing a total ban on discharges, a ban on water collection, systematic monitoring, reduction of the quantities of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water and the establishment of a series of effective purification plants?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (11 September 1997)

The Community's environmental law includes directives whose aim is to protect surface and ground water against deterioration as a result of urban agricultural and industrial effluent discharges.

Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 on the treatment of urban waste water ((OJ L 135, 30.5.1991. )) requires the Member States to provide collection systems and water reclamation works in all urban areas having more than 2 000 equivalent inhabitants in the case of discharges into fresh and estuary water, and more than 10 000 equivalent inhabitants in the case of discharges into coastal waters. An equivalent inhabitant is a unit of measurement currently applied to pollution of waste waters and corresponds to the biodegradable organic load produced per person per day. The deadline for that provision is 31 December 1998, 31 December 2000 or 31 December 2005, depending upon the size of the built-up area and the sensitivity of the recipient environment.

Italy has still not transposed that Directive into its national law and for that reason was found guilty by the Court of Justice on 12 December 1996.

Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 on the protection of water against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources ((OJ L 375, 31.12.1991. )) provides for mandatory action in order to reduce and prevent such pollution.

So far Italy has still not identified the areas that are vulnerable to nitrate pollution and has thus not instituted any monitoring of stock rearing in pursuance of that Directive.

This being the case the Commission has brought an action against Italy before the Court of Justice.

The Italian authorities must implement Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the Community's aquatic environment ((OJ L 129, 18.5.1976. )). That Directive stipulates that all discharges of dangerous substances shall thus be controlled by means of an authorisation system which lays down emission standards. The emissions standards must enable the Directive's two principal aims to be met: eliminating pollution by the most dangerous substances and reducing pollution by substances whose impact is more local. Phosphorous, nitrite and ammonia fall into that latter category.

Italian Law 319/76 defines emission standards for industrial discharges based on the best available technology. It requests the regions to draw up and implement environmental-restoration plans. Italian Decree 133/92 defines the conditions under which restoration plans are to be updated and implemented.

Article 7 of Directive 76/464/EEC requests the authorities to prepare programmes for the reduction of pollution and the submission of summaries of these at the same time as the results of implementation. The Italian authorities have so far not met these obligations. Therefore the Commission has brought an infringement action against Italy.

In addition it must be added that the proposal for a Directive introducing a framework for Community action on water ((OJ C 184, 17.6.1997. )) put forward by the Commission extends the scope of water protection to cover all forms of water (surface and groundwater) and does not solely concern, as in existing Community law, that intended for a specific use: more particularly water intended for human consumption, bathing and fish farming. It follows a 'combined' approach lying between (a) the emission limit values and (b) the water-quality standards and targets. It requires the Member States to achieve a 'good state' for all waters and, for that purpose, asks that an overall management plan, a programme of the action needed in order to achieve the 'good state' and a monitoring programme should be prepared and implemented for each hydrographic 'district' (administrative area consisting of one or several drainage areas).