WRITTEN QUESTION E-2298/98

by Carles-Alfred Gasòliba i Böhm (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 July 1998)

Subject: Pollution levels in the river Segura

The Segura is a river which flows through the Spanish autonomous communities of Castilla la Mancha, Murcia and Valencia. By the time it reaches the sea (at Vega Baja, in the Valencia region) its waters are highly polluted, which has an adverse effect on the environment, agriculture and the quality of life of the above locality, which is situated in the province of Alacant, in the southern part of the Valencia region.

The Commission has drawn up a directive which requires all the EU Member States to clean up their rivers by the year 2006. To do this they must ensure that an ecological flow rate of 4000 litres per second is maintained and they must extend and improve the operation of water treatment plants.

Environmental experts fear that the current pollution levels in the Segura river and the lack of appropriate installations will make it difficult for the Community directives to be complied with.

Is the Commission aware of the worrying levels of pollution in the river Segura? What action is the Commission intending to take to ensure compliance with the relevant environmental laws within the prescribed period (i.e. by 2006)?

Joint answer

to Written Questions P-2094/98 and E-2298/98 given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(11 September 1998)

Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment(1) requires sectoral reports from Member States (which include reporting obligations of 13 water directives) to be delivered with a variety of information on water quality issues, starting with a first report covering the period 1993-1995.

Spain did not fulfil its reporting obligations with respect to the Segura river catchment. Infringement proceedings for non-compliance with Directive 91/692/EEC have been launched. Within the framework of the reporting under Council Directive 76/160/EEC of 8 December 1975 concerning the quality of bathing water(2), there is information available concerning two bathing areas at Segura river, Calasparra and Cieza. For 1997, only microbiological parameters do not comply with bathing water requirements.

Regarding nitrate pollution in the Segura, the Commission has received information from the Spanish authorities indicating that the threshold of 50 milligram per litre was breached several times between 1979 and 1995. Under the requirements of Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of water against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources(3), Spain is obliged to identify those waters polluted by nitrogen from agricultural sources and to take measures in the river basin to prevent such pollution. Spain has not taken the necessary measures and therefore the Commission has brought the matter before the Court of justice.

As to pollution by dangerous substances, the Commission is aware of the problem in Spain relating to the implementation in practice of Council Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community(4) and in particular to the absence of pollution reduction programmes pursuant to Article 7 of this Directive. In the context of Petition No 334/97 to the Parliament the Commission has received documents which make reference to acids, soda and waste-water discharges from hospitals, battery production and textile industry within the Segura river basin. It therefore appears that the pollution in question is caused by various substances of list II as defined in the Annex of Directive 76/464/EEC. According to Article 7, Member States have to establish programmes aimed at a reduction of such substances. The failure of Spain to set out such reduction programmes has already been identified by the Commission. Consequently, the Commission has opened infringement proceedings pursuant to Article 169 of the EC Treaty which are now pending before the Court of justice (case C-214/96).

Finally, Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment(5) obliges Member States to ensure that all agglomerations with more than 2 000 population equivalent (population equivalent is the unit used to represent the average organic discharge per person per day) are equipped with treatment and collection plants for urban waste water. The normal treatment level is secondary treatment, that is biological treatment. Sometimes treatment must be more rigorous for discharges from agglomerations with more than 10 0000 population equivalent that are discharged into those zones identified as sensitive areas by Member States as well as those river basins connected to these zones.

The deadline for identifying the sensitive areas was 31 December 1993. Spain has not completed this process of identification and for this reason the Commission has begun infringement proceedings.

The deadline for the operation of the collection and treatment systems for urban waste water is 31 December 1998 for agglomerations of more than 10 000 population equivalent discharging into sensitive areas, 31 December 2000 for agglomerations of more than 15 000 population equivalent not discharging into sensitive areas, or 31 December 2005 for smaller agglomerations. The Commission will verify, when necessary, that each agglomeration concerned has complied with these obligations.

This is the information provided to the Commission thus far, and the state of the relevant actions launched by the Commission in this field in order to remedy, with the instruments at its disposal, the problem of the Segura.

(1) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.

(2) OJ L 31, 5.2.1976.

(3) OJ L 375, 31.12.1991.

(4) OJ L 129, 18.5.1976.

(5) OJ L 135, 30.5.1991.