WRITTEN QUESTION P-1103/01

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 March 2001)

Subject: Urban Waste Water Directive

Council Directive 91/271/EEC(1) concerning urban waste water treatment seeks to protect the environment from the harmful effects of both domestic and industrial waste water discharges. Creameries in certain peripheral areas of the EU are, however, facing grave financial difficulties because of the requirements of the implementing legislation. Certain operators are having to build expensive pipes to pump their biodegradable waste, such as surplus whey, out to sea.

Is it permissible, under the rules of the Directive, for a company to build an outflow pipe from its premises that would feed its biodegradable waste into the outflow pipe from a local waste treatment plant, after the treatment stage, so that both sets of discharge are pumped out to sea, provided that suitable arrangements are made for the metering of both sets of discharge separately? In this context,

is the Commission aware of the problems faced by the creameries in Campbeltown and Rothesay, and, should the above proposal not be permissible, would it suggest the most practical way in which those operators might dispose of their waste?

(1) OJ L 135, 30.5.1991, p. 40.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2001)

Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991, concerning urban waste water treatment(1) covers domestic waste water sources as well as a range of industrial waste waters which does not enter urban waste water treatment plants before discharge to water bodies.

Creameries as well as other plants of the agro-food sector are indeed addressed by the Directive, however the provisions are limited:

- firstly, only larger milk processing plants are covered by the Directive, i.e. those with a pollution load of their waste water equalling a city of 4000 inhabitants or more (population equivalents).

- secondly, the level of treatment required is flexible and largely left to Member States. Whilst for urban waste water treatment plants the Directive established numerically defined limit values, the provisions for milk processing plants etc., are very flexible: Member States have to ensure that such waste water respects conditions established in prior regulations and/or specific authorisations article 13(1); the sixth whereas clause of the preamble refers to appropriate treatment for such discharges.

As for the specific questions, the following information can be provided:

- It is for the authorities within the United Kingdom to establish the conditions for the specific cases of Campbeltown and Rothesay or at a general level, and to implement them within the time schedule set, i.e. 31 December 2000. The Directive does not entail an obligation to expensive piping systems for sea disposal but does not prohibit them either, as it is in this context very flexible.

- As for practical solutions to waste water problem of creameries, a range of solutions exists for such appropriate treatment throughout the United Kingdom and other Member States. Given the implementation responsibility of the British authorities as well as the technical and scientific experience with possible solutions available in the United Kingdom, it seems appropriate to consider such solutions with responsible bodies such as the Scottish Executive and/or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The Commission would of course in this context confirm its willingness to cooperate upon request of those authorities.

(1) OJ L 135, 30.5.1991.