Drinking Water Directive
On September 21, 2009, Jan Cortvriend, the desk officer in charge of the Directive presented the issues at stake at the Committee of Regions. In his presentation, he put emphasis on 2 major points: the implementation of the Water Safety Plans and the extension of the reporting obligation to small supplies (those supplying less than 5.000 persons but more than 50 persons (10 m3 per day) – these are supposed to comply with the directive’s prescription but are currently submitted to reporting – 13 % of the EU population). There has been a lot of delay with the impact assessment study, which will hopefully be completed in February or March 2010. Then the official release of Commission proposal for a new Drinking Water Directive will take place before summer 2010.
Urban Waste Water Treatment directive
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The European Commission has decided to take the United Kingdom to the European Court of Justice on the grounds that urban waste water collecting systems and treatment facilities in London and Whitburn in north east England do not comply with EU legislation.
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The European Commission has sent Spain a final written warning for failing to implement a court ruling on the treatment of waste water in the area of Playa de la Motilla in the Valencia region. Should Spain fail to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation the Commission may again bring it before the European Court of Justice and request that fines be imposed on Spain.
LIFE conference on water related project in liaison with EU policy
The LIFE Unit of DG Environment organized a conference in Brussels on October 15 to present some projects funded by the LIFE program in the field of water management.
These projects are aimed at:
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Demonstrating new solutions in water management and, this way, providing innovative ideas to DG Environment to elaborate and design water policies.
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Facilitating the implementation of the EU water legislation on difficult issues (eutrophication, water scarcity, etc) and showing successful cases that can be replicated elsewhere.
The conference was an opportunity for the Water and LIFE Units to exchange with LIFE project developers. From the discussion, it was concluded that the WFD is a sound tool to face the water stress even if one can regret that it pays little attention on quantitative aspects. Climate change adaptation will be the main issue on the agenda for the years to come but other issues are emerging: water economics, WFD effectiveness to deliver on diffuse pollution or hydromorphology. Liaison between water actors was a central topic in the discussion.
UNW-DPC organises a Regional Workshop on Water Loss Reduction In Water & Sanitation Utilities in South East European Countries (SEE)
As a follow-up of the recommendations of the International Workshop on „Drinking Water Loss Reduction: Developing Capacity for Applying Solutions“, held on 3-5 September 2008 in Bonn, Germany, and in order to address this problem at the regional level, UNW-DPC is organizing in cooperation with UN-HABITAT and BWA the workshop on „Water Loss Reduction in Water and Sanitation Utilities in South East European Countries (SEE)“.
This workshop will document available know-how and best practices and will recommend new approaches for more efficient management in the field of water and sanitation with a focus on water loss reduction
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