UK rejects dirty water tag

Sewage: Most EU states do not take it seriously enough, the commissioner says

By BBC News Online environment correspondent Alex Kirby

The UK has described a charge that it is failing to improve sewage treatment adequately as baseless.

The accusation, by the European Union environment commissioner, says London and other UK cities are not treating their sewage rigorously enough.

The UK accuses the European Commission of misinterpreting the facts, and failing to understanding properly what the UK has done.

One UK official told BBC News Online the EU's accusation was "completely over the top".

The environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, told a seminar in Brussels on the EU's urban wastewater directive that 10 years after its adoption, "the vast majority of member states show major delays in its implementation".

Shortcomings

The directive is intended to protect the water quality of rivers, lakes and the sea from damage by urban sewage. It specifies three deadlines:

• by the end of 1998, all towns of more than 10,000 people discharging sewage into sensitive waters should have had the highest (tertiary) level of treatment;
• by the end of 2000, all towns of more than 15,000 people should have installed "secondary" sewage treatment, which dissolves pollutants and eliminates solid waste;
• by the end of 2005, smaller towns should have installed secondary treatment as well.

But Ms Wallstrom told the seminar, described as a "name and shame" session, that most member states showed "major shortcomings with all these deadlines".

Margot Wallstrom: Claims 37 large European towns and cities are discharging without treatment

She singled out London, Dublin, Paris and Athens as cities which had failed to designate sensitive areas adequately, resulting in "an under-assessment of the wastewater treatment targets".

But the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) was dismissive.

"We disagree with the Commission's suggestion, resulting from a study in 1999, that discharges from cities such as London, Hull and Southampton should have been identified as sensitive areas," it said in a statement.

"We consider the report misinterprets the data, and shows only a partial understanding of the action the UK has taken, and the scientific basis for that action."

Exceeding the directive

The DETR said the investment in improving sewage treatment in the UK had totalled £6.5bn ($9.75bn) between 1990 and 2000.

Sewage can damage coastal waters

It expected in the next few years to go beyond the requirements of the directive in England and Wales, providing secondary treatment to all sewage works serving more than 2,000 people.

Ms Wallstrom said 37 large European towns and cities were discharging all their sewage without treatment: she named Brussels itself, and 11 municipalities in the UK.

The list includes the seaside resorts of Hastings, Brighton and Torbay in southern England. No other country has as many backsliders identified.

But France and Germany failed to provide any information at all, prompting Ms Wallstrom to rebuke them for their "unconstructive attitude".

Precious resource

A DETR official, disputing the basis on which the EU report had been compiled, said no raw sewage was going anywhere any more in the UK.

Ms Wallstrom told the seminar she wanted to change people's behaviour "in order to put an end to the policy of 'putting everything down the drains'".

"Domestic, urban and industrial water consumers, who in recent years have learnt to sort their waste, should also learn to treat water as a precious commodity," she said.

Barrie Clarke, of Water UK, which represents the water industry, told BBC News Online: "The commission seems to be plain out of date.

"Water companies have an excellent record in implementing the directive, with huge targeted capital spending."