The European Commission decided to refer Italy (INFR(2017)2181) to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to fully comply with the collection and treatment obligations set in the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (Directive 91/271/EEC).
The Directive aims to protect people's health and the environment by requiring that urban wastewater is collected and treated before discharge into the environment. Untreated wastewater can put human health at risk and pollute lakes, rivers, soil, and coastal and groundwater. Information received from Italy has shown widespread failures to comply with the Directive, in a total of 179 Italian agglomerations.
Italy still needs to ensure that wastewater collection systems (or individual systems or other appropriate systems in justified cases) are in place in 36 agglomerations. For 130 agglomerations, Italy is still failing to correctly treat the wastewater that is collected. For agglomerations that discharge wastewater into sensitive areas, a more stringent treatment of the wastewater is required. Italy still fails to comply with this obligation in 12 agglomerations. Finally, for 165 agglomerations, Italy fails to monitor that the water discharges meet, over time, the quality conditions required.
Under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), Member States must have in place collecting systems for all agglomerations with at least 2,000 inhabitants
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Italy in June 2018, followed by a reasoned opinion in July 2019. Despite some progress, many agglomerations remain non-compliant with the Directive's obligations. The Commission considers that efforts by the Italian authorities have, to date, been insufficient and is therefore referring Italy to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), Member States must have in place collecting systems for all agglomerations with at least 2,000 inhabitants. Where the establishment of a collecting system is not justified, notably because it would entail excessive cost, individual or other appropriate systems can be used instead, provided they achieve the same level of environmental protection. Member States must also ensure that discharges stemming from urban wastewater treatment plants serving agglomerations with at least 2,000 inhabitants comply at least with the secondary treatment level (consisting in the treatment of organic matter in urban wastewater), before being released in the environment.
This infringement procedure is the fourth open infringement case concerning improper application of the UWWTD in Italy (in addition to infringement procedures INFR2004(2034), INFR2009(2034) and INFR2014(2059). There is no overlap between these four cases, each one addressing different breaches of the obligations set out by the Directive. Together, these four procedures cover more than 900 agglomerations.
