HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’avocats
The new European Urban Wastewater Directive was adopted on 16 November 2025 (OJEU 12 December 2024).
It will enter into force on 1 January 2025.
It aims to protect the environment and human health, in accordance with the "One Health" approach, while progressively reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to sustainable levels, improving the energy efficiency of urban wastewater collection and treatment activities, and contributing to the transition to a circular economy. It also establishes rules on universal access to sanitation, transparency in the urban wastewater sector, regular monitoring of urban wastewater parameters relevant to public health, and the implementation of the polluter pays principle.
It aims to reduce water pollution and improve urban wastewater treatment.
It addresses untreated sources of pollution, including micropollutants and smaller urban agglomerations.
The objectives of this directive are to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 for wastewater treatment plants, which represent approximately 0.85% of total EU emissions, and to improve the quality of rivers, lakes, groundwater, and seas through new obligations.
The directive imposes a wastewater treatment obligation for agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 1,000.
Primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary treatment are required according to specific deadlines, with possible exemptions for certain Member States with limited sewer networks.
It expands the coverage of agglomerations and the types of pollutants targeted. It requires achieving energy neutrality in wastewater treatment.
It provides for the implementation of an extended producer responsibility system.
Specifically, states are required to establish sewer systems for all urban areas with more than 1,000 inhabitants by 2035 and to develop integrated wastewater management plans for urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants by 2033.
Regarding extended producer responsibility (polluter pays principle), the directive stipulates that pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturers must cover 80% of the costs of treating micropollutants by 2028.
The directive provides for national cooperation systems to monitor public health parameters by 2030.
It also provides for the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in treatment plants for urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
The directive is available via the following link: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/3019/2024-12-12/eng#:~:text=This%20Directive%20lays%20do