The European Union Affairs Committee is against harsher requirements for connecting to sanitation network

Chair of the Committee Liisa Pakosta stated that the protection of surface and ground water was very important and the objective of treatment of urban wastewaters was good, but it was still necessary to see that the costs caused by the Directive would be proportional with the benefits it brought to the environment and human health.

“It is known that the construction of a pipeline involves large costs to local governments and the water companies, which could be unreasonable in sparsely populated areas. We have many households that are not connected to sanitation network. We found in the Committee that if people have no money for connecting to central sanitation system, it cannot be requested of them,” Pakosta said. “Of course, it would be good if everyone had the possibility to connect to the sewerage pipeline, but it would be reasonable if it were accompanied by support from the EU structural funds. Otherwise, property owners may not have enough money to build the necessary pipelines to connect to the central system, even if the state and local government find the money to build the sewerage pipeline.”

The Committee decided amend the position of the Government and make it more specific. According to the position approved at the sitting of the Committee, Estonia is against the proposal to extend the scope of application of the Directive to drainage areas with population of less than 2000 people. “We think that Member States must retain the possibility to decide for themselves how to collect wastewater in smaller settlements,” Pakosta said. “We also believe that it should continue to be taken into account whether the wastewater treatment plants are located in cold or warm climates. We do not support the proposal that new wastewater treatment plants should be again replaced when the new requirements come into force.”

Estonia supports the proposal that the parameters relevant for public health in urban waste water should be regularly monitored across Europe. We support the improvement of wastewater surveillance and the objective of reducing the release into water of micro-pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics residues. Estonia considers it important that after the adoption of amendments, there would be at least 18 months for their transposition.

The European Union Affairs Committee heard the opinion of the Environment Committee and decided to approve the positions of the Government on reviewing the ground water and surface water pollutants lists and on reviewing the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive as amended.

At the sitting, Advisers Anni Mandel and Kersti Türk as well as Chief Specialist Margus Korsjukov of the Water Department of the Ministry of the Environment gave an overview of the planned amendments and the positions submitted by the Government and replied to the numerous questions of the members of the Committee.

For more information, please contact: Liisa Pakosta, phone +372 502 6191

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
Phone: +372 631 6592, +372 510 6179
E-mail: merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The European Union Affairs Committee is against harsher requirements for connecting to sanitation network

Source: Parliament of Estonia