The European Commission has sent a final warning to Italy to ensure urban waste water is adequately collected and treated – Italy now faces the prospect of a €62.7 million fine.
The Commission has decided to send an additional reasoned opinion to Italy for its failure to ensure that all agglomerations with more than 2,000 inhabitants have adequate collection and treatment systems for urban waste water.
According to the EC, 758 agglomerations in 18 different regions covering more than 18 million people are in breach of several provisions of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
In addition, the requirements to reduce the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen entering treatment plants are not fulfilled in 32 sensitive areas. Italy now has the opportunity to submit updated information on progress made in all agglomerations and sensitive areas for which the country has acknowledged non-compliance.
The Commission said that Italy has not complied for more than 10 years now and its “general and persistent breach” of the Directive is confirmed by two other cases where the Court ruled against the country in 2012 and 2014 and which cover 80 and 24 agglomerations respectively.
In December 2016 the Commission decided to refer Italy back to the Court proposing financial penalties in the case covering 80 agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 15 000 inhabitants. Italy now has two months to remedy the situation; otherwise, the case may be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.
The Commission is calling on the Court of Justice of the EU to impose a lump sum payment of almost €62.7 million. The Commission is also proposing a daily penalty payment of €346,922.40 if full compliance is not achieved by the date when the Court issues its ruling.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.