Updating of the Urban Waste Water Directive (UWWD): raising European purification standards by 2040. The cornerstones are: extension of the perimeter of agglomerations subject to obligations, new limits for the concentration of pollutants and introduction of quaternary treatment obligations. To these are added the Integrated Plans for the management of wastewater, the establishment of producer responsibility for pollutants released by the products introduced and the request for energy neutrality for the treatment of effluents.
The EU recalls that there are new emerging pollutants that need to be taken care of in Europe. This is indicated by the recent directive on drinking water, which calls us to monitor its presence and concentrations, and the new proposal for a wastewater directive, Urban Waste Water Directive (UWWD), which calls for the removal of microplastics and chemical pollutants in purifiers, providing for more incisive treatments to ensure that the water released back into the environment does not damage ecosystems. The helm is raised again with the second directive that asks purification to achieve energy self-sufficiency, that is, to contribute with the production of renewable energy to decarbonization.
The recovery of fertilizers and energy from sludge is the other new frontier of the water service: because our cities will be "smart" only if they are able to recover secondary raw materials, fuels and energy from waste.
