Implementation of the Water Framework Directive and other ...

Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE
AND OTHER RELEVANT WASTEWATER RELATED EU-
DIRECTIVES IN SELECTED DANUBIAN COUNTRIES
1 INTRODUCTION
Situation in Germany (Danubian Part)
Dipl. Ing. Jens Jedlitschka
Bavarian State Ministry for Environment,
Public Health and Consumer Protection
Germany with about 360 00 km 2 is composed of 16 Federal States of which two – Bavaria
and Baden-Württemberg – participate at the Danube river basin. For Bavaria, the largest
Federal State of Germany the Danube river basin is the most important one as two thirds of
Bavaria lie in the Danube river basin. Thus my presentation will concentrate on the German
part of the Danube river basin, i. e. Bavaria and partly Baden-Württemberg with some
information concerning the whole of Germany.
The Conference leaflet describes in a pretty way what should be discussed together in the
countries’ contributions and therefore I will follow this proposal.
Today the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is dealt with in nearly each conference,
seminar or workshop. Indeed, there are good reasons for this. The WFD is the umbrella for
more or less all water related EU-directives, a great part of which are or will be in future
replaced by the WFD. The follwing table shows the essential EU water related directives. Ear
marked (*) directives will be cancelled and the necessary regulations integrated in the WFD.
Table 1: Essential water related EU-directives
Year Directive
1975 * Directive on surface waters for drinking water supply and daughter directive on
sampling and analytics in 1979
1976 Bathing Water Directive
1976 * Directive on the discharge of hazardous substances and daughter directive on
altogether17 selected hazardous substances 1982-1986
1977 * Decision on the exchange of information about the quality of surface waters
1978 * Directive on fish waters
1979 * Directive on shellfish waters
1980 * Groundwater Directive
1980 Directive on drinking water quality (revised edition 1998)
1991 Directive on urban waste water treatment
1991 Directive on nitrate pollution from agriculture
1992 * Directive on reporting obligations and daughter decisions on water questionnaires
1996 Directive on integrated pollution prevention control
2000 Directive establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water
policy – Water Framework Directive
* to be cancelled
A good part of these directives is focusing on waste water treatment.
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
In the following I will concentrate on the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and on the
Urban Waste-Water Directive (UWWD).
2 KEY ELEMENTS OF THE WFD AND THE UWWD
The WFD
The central objective of the WFD is to achieve a good status of all bodies of water defined
in article 4 WFD:
• Good surface water status means a good chemical and a good ecological status. Instead
of the latter aim, for water bodies designated as artificial or heavily modified the
objective is to achieve a good ecological potential.
• Good groundwater status means a good quantitative and a good chemical status.
The requirements for the good status are listed in annex V WFD. Exceptions (article 4
WFD) are an integrated part of the environmental objectives.
The key instrument of the WFD for achieving these objectives is a single basin wide
coordinated River Basin Management Plan for each River Basin District including a
Programme of Measures as the crucial part. The process of planning follows a defined very
strict timeframe:
• End of 2003: Legal implementation of the WFD
• End of 2004: Review of the current status of the river basins.
• End of 2006: Monitoring programmes are established
• End of 2009: River Basin Management Plans with Programmes of Measures are
established
• End of 2012: Programmes of Measures are made operational
• End of 2015: The objectives of the WFD are achieved
There are several essential regulations in the WFD concerning waste water treatment:
• the good status as environmental objective including exceptions (article 4)
• a review of the impact of human activities (article 5)
• monitoring of the quality of waters (recipients of sewage!) (article 8)
• recovery of costs for water services (article 9)
• the combined approach (article 10)
• the programme of measures (article 11), particularly the basic measures such as
o reference on other relevant directives as the UWWD or the sewage sludge
directive
o water pricing
o efficient and sustainable water use (recycling of water, closed circuits of industrial
waste water, ...)
o prior authorisation for discharge of waste water laying down emission controls for
the pollutants concerned, periodically reviewed and where necessary updated
o prohibition of direct discharge of pollutants into the groundwater
o prevention of significant losses of pollutants from technical installations
and supplementary measures such as
o economic or fiscal instruments
o emission controls
• strategies against pollution of water (article 16), particularly establishing a list of priority
substances (already done by the Commission – list of 33 substances ) including proposals
of control (not yet done) and identifying the priority hazardous substances to be phased
out in 20 years.
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
The UWWD
The central objective of the UWWD is the protection of the waters from not treated or not
sufficiently treated discharge of waste water from municipalities or from industries producing
similar sewage as for instance breweries, dairies, slaughter-houses.
The UWWD regulates collecting systems, sewage treatment and sewage sludge disposal. The
requirements concerning the discharge of waste water differ according to the three categories
of areas:
• sensitive area,
• normal area and
• less sensitive area.
The requirements and the time delays as in the UWWD are shown in table 2. The sensitive
areas in the Bavarian Danube River Basin are regulated in the Bavarian clean keeping decree
on waste water (Reinhalteordnung Abwasser).
Agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 2000 have to be provided by
collecting systems at the latest by 31 December 2005. Exceptions are admissible. But then
individual systems or other appropriate systems which achieve the same level of
environmental protection shall be used.
Waste water treatment plants have to be designed, constructed, operated and maintained in a
satisfying way to ensure sufficient performance.
Industrial waste water discharges into collecting systems and waste water treatment plants
must be subject to prior regulations which satisfy the requirements of the UWWD.
Direct and indirect discharges have to be monitored by competent authorities
Table 2:Necessary urban waste water treatment and time limits in the
Bavarian Danube River Basin
Capacity of the plant
Sensiti
ve
areas
Norm
al
Areas
Lakes
Danube
(without lakes)
With
existant
collecting
systems
����
appropriat
e treatment
Note: EW = population equivalent
Secondary
treatment
* as regulated in the Bavarian clean keeping decree on waste water
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1998 -Secondary
treatment +
elimination of P
and N *
Secondary treatment + elimination of
P *
2005
Secondary treatment

Size
p. e.
Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
3 CURRENT STATUS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU WATER
LEGISLATION FOCUSING ON WASTE WATER TREATMENT
Before entering into the water legislation in Germany some institutional aspects need an
explication:
Germany is a Federal State with a federal system, i.e. the duties and powers of the State are
distributed between the Federal level and the State level (16 Federal States in Germany!).
The constitution of Germany (Basic Law) allocates the competencies as follows:
a) Exclusive legislative powers of the Federal Government (defence, monetary, foreign
affairs,…) where the Federal level controls all issues,
b) Concurrent legislative powers (waste disposal, air pollution), where the Federal States
are allowed to regulate all matters that are not regulated by the Federal Government.
c) Framework legislation (water..)
In the case of framework legislation the Federal Government lays down the governing legal
framework, the Federal States then fill out this framework with their own laws. The
enforcement of all legal stipulations in the water sector is exclusively the responsibility of the
Federal States (with the exception of the Federal waterways administration).
The Federal Water Act (WHG) which enshrines the key principles of water management in
Germany has been several times revised since 1957. From the 4 th revision in 1976 on
minimum emission standards concerning quantity, avoidance and treatment of waste water are
valid for the whole of Germany. In § 7a of the 6 th revision of the Federal Water Act in 1996
the term BAT (Best available technology) was adapted to the international and supranational
requirements.
The above mentioned §7a allows the Federal Government, with the consent of the Bundesrat,
i.e. the Federal Council of constituent states, to issue a decree which sets requirements on
wastewater discharge. The Federal Government already adopted this wastewater decree - last
revision on 15 October 2002. The requirements for industrial sectors, including municipal
waste water, are stipulated in 57 annexes. Annex 1, which applies to municipalities, is
explained in greater detail as an example. This annex specifies the scope (the wastewater
covered by the regulation) and requirements (5 size categories for the parameters BOD5,
COD, NH4-N, total N, total P). Annex 1 of the German decree, of course, observes and
transposes the requirements of the UWWD. It is even stricter than the requirements of the
UWWD (see table 3).
Table 3: Requirements for discharges of waste water into receiving waters in the German
decree on waste water, annex 1 – urban waste water
COD
mg/l
BOD5
mg/l
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Ammonium-
Nitrogen
NH4-N
mg/l
Total
Nitrogen
Ntot
mg/l
100 000 75 15 10 13 1
Total
Phosphorus
Ptot
mg/l
Other federal laws such as the waste water charges law support the goals of the Federal Water
Act and further special laws such as the law on detergents complement these regulations.

Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
The 7 th revision of the Federal Water Act in 2002 incorporated finally the requirements of the
WFD.
As shown before the Federal States had also to revise their water laws regulating their specific
issues. The Bavarian water law was adapted to the requirements of the UWWD and finally on
August 2003 to those of the WFD.
Annexes II and V of the WFD have been implemented by an ordinance in a similar way in all
16 Federal States. For the classification of the ecological status the ordinance lists about 130
hazardous substances with their respective environment quality standards and another 30
hazardous substances for the classification of the chemical status.
The report according to art. 5 WFD on the characteristics of the river basin district, on the
review of the environmental impact of human activity and on the economic analysis of water
use was accomplished in time and sent to Brussels.
Thus both directives are implemented in Germany.
4 MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
� Collecting systems
About 94 % of the population in the German Danube river basin is provided with public
collecting systems.. The UWWD requirement that communes over 2000 habitants are
branched to public collecting systems is therefore complied with. The overwhelming part of
the agglomerations is drained in the combined system The problem lies here with the
pollution of overflows of stormwater tanks in these combined systems. A newly effected
balance of emissions from storm water overflows in North Rhine Westphalia/Germany
showed that the amount of organic pollution in COD results in equal amounts from diffuse
sources, from effluents of waste water treatment plants and from overflows of stormwater
tanks. This means that action will be necessary in future.
���� Waste water treatment plants
In the German part of the Danube river basin approximately 93 % of the population are
connected to sewage treatment plants which comply with the requirements of the UWWD.
More than 2000 municipal sewage treatment plants exist in the German part of the Danube
river basin deserving about 19,5 million population equivalents. 841 sewage treatment plants
have a capacity of more than 2000 population equivalents. They represent about 18,7 million
population equivalents. The smaller sewage treatment plants are to a great extent oxidation
ponds which have nevertheless proved a success due to their stability against sudden peak
loads of pollutants above all in rural areas. The technical plants normally are sludge aeration
installations or trickling filters. The elimination of nutrients (N, P) is realised even in
treatment plants situated in non sensitive areas: N-elimination in treatment plants over 5000 p.
e. and P-elimination in treatment plants over 10 000 p. e.
� Sewage sludge
In Bavaria about 5,6 million m 3 of sewage sludge were produced in 2003 ( = 300 000 tons of
sludge per year!) and disposed as follows:
• 29 % agricultural use (requirements of the sewage sludge decree complied with)
• 36 % incineration
• 1 % landfill (now not any longer allowed)
• 34 % others such as rehabilitation of land (requirements of the sewage sludge decree
complied with)
The Bavarian government strives for the termination of agricultural sludge use.
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
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� Technical rules
Waste water treatment has according to § 7a of the Federal Water Act to follow the BAT (best
available technology). Collecting systems and waste water treatment plants in Germany have
to observe the technical rules on design, construction, operation and maintenance according to
the generally acknowledged technical rules. These rules
o depend on a scientific base and on expert knowledge,
o are proven in practice and
o are applied by the majority of the experts in this field.
They are developed in a formal procedure in standards of DIN (German Institute for
Standardisation) or above all in standards of DWA (German Association for Water,
Wastewater and Waste). In the internet under http://www.dwa.de/english/willkomm.htm you
may find a list on the important standards in different languages.
���� Operation and Maintenance
Waste water installations represent a huge fortune of the municipalities. It’s in their interest to
preserve this value
o by a careful operation (normally by their own personal)
o by a regular maintenance.
In Bavaria the municipalities are bound by the Bavarian water law
o to have personal in sufficient number at the wastewater installations
o which has an appropriate qualification.
To help the operators of waste water installations (here normally municipalities) wastewater
treatment plant neighbourhoods were created in Germany since long (actually about 330
wastewater treatment plant neighbourhoods in Germany). These neighbourhoods are
voluntary groupings of operators of waste water installations. They come regularly together to
discuss problems and remediation possibilities when operating plants guided by a waste water
expert. They contribute a lot to the successful performance of the waste water treatment plants
in the German Danube river basin.
� Authorisations
No discharge of wastewater without authorisation by the competent authorities. This is now
an established position in most European countries and stipulated by the WFD. In Germany,
an industry or a municipality must therefore apply for permission from the responsible
authorities to discharge wastewater or abstract water. In Bavaria these bodies are the county
council authorities or the self-administered towns. The responsible State office for water
management (Wasserwirtschaftsamt) proposes stipulations and conditions, in particular
requirements concerning the quantity and quality of the wastewater to be discharged. The
authority responsible for law enforcement (county council authority or self-administered
town) issues a decision against which it is possible to appeal (opposition, legal action). The
decision (containing the authorisation) defines the concrete conditions and any prohibitions,
where appropriate.
The prerequisites of an authorisation usually include
- verbal descriptions (e.g. the discharged wastewater is to be free from floating
solids)
- values to be observed in the operation of the sewage treatment plant
- concentration levels for pollutant parameters in mg/l as limit values
- production-specific loads in m 3 /t, kg/t for the industry, relating to the
production capacity on which the decision is based as limit values
- discharge in 1/s, m 3 /day, m 3 /year as limit values
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
- pollutant load in kg BOD5 (COD)/day as limit values.
� Monitoring and Control
The stipulations in the authorisation are monitored regularly. The prescribed limits must be
observed.
The controls are done by the state (state water supervision authority) and the operator (inhouse
control, auto-control).
State Control
Art. 68 of the Bavarian Water Law stipulates that the water supervision authority shall
monitor the fulfilment of the existing requirements as laid down in the water laws, or the
public duties derived from these laws. The water supervision authority is the responsibility of
the county councils. The technical water supervision is the responsibility of the water
management administration and its supervisory service (state offices for water management).
In-house control (Auto-control)
In-house control is a permanent duty of the party responsible for the plant (e.g. municipality,
waste water association, corporation, private person)
In-house control covers inspection confirming that the plants are in proper operating order
and that the scope, stipulations and conditions of a decision based on water law are observed
during the operation, e.g. by means of
- operational and function checks
- inspection of maintenance and upkeep
- obtaining, recording and evaluating measurement results
- performance checks and comparison with limit and reference values
- reporting malfunctions and arranging remedial action
- documenting all major plant processes (operations journal, annual report)
The legal basis are the water laws and the authorisations that are based on the water laws with
the corresponding stipulations and conditions. In Bavaria: Auto - Control Ordinance of
September 20, 1995.
5 ACHIEVEMENT OF A GOOD QUALITY STATUS OF THE RIVERS
The risk analysis in the report on the status review according article 5 WFD identifies those
water bodies that may not achieve the environmental objectives set out under Article 4 WFD.
This risk assessment was based on the present quality of waters applying the existing national
assessment methods but not yet the new evaluation tools of the WFD, which will not be
available before 2006.
The risk assessment is not an anticipated classification of the (good) status of water bodies. It
will rather help to optimise the following monitoring programmes under Article 8 WFD
starting the latest in 2006.
The assessment results have been classified in three risk classes:
• Goal-attainment is expected: not at risk of failing objectives
• Goal-attainment is unclear: unclear risk of failing objectives
• Goal-attainment is unlikely: at risk of failing objectives
An assessment as “risk unclear” at time being can be due to lack of data or to methodical
difficulties. But these water bodies will undergo further investigations up to 2006 to assign
them clearly either to surveillance monitoring or to operational monitoring.
Goal-attainment of rivers has been assessed in four risk categories referring to the most
significant and widespread types of pressures.
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
Pressures by organic oxygen depleting pollution � Saprobic risk
Pressures by plant nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) � Trophic risk
Pressures by specific pollutants � Chemical risk
Pressures by hydromorphological alterations of surface waters � Structural risk.
Table 4: Risk assessment of rivers – German Danubian part
Risk category Not at risk Risk unclear At risk
Saprobic risk 65 % 18 % 17 %
Trophic risk 67 % 5 % 28 %
Chemical risk 97 % 2 % 1 %
Structural risk 29 % 37 % 34 %
(Figures in % of river stretches)
The assessment of rivers deliberately has been separated into the four risk categories to make
clear different problems of water quality and their specific causes. Another reason for a
multiple assessment is a fundamental difference in the importance of these categories for a
good ecological status. For achieving a good status of a water body the biological and
chemical criteria are decisive whereas hydromorphological criteria are only supporting
elements and have more importance for the allocation of possible measures.
The assessment of lakes and groundwater is not presented in this contribution, but is available
on www.wasserrahmenrichtlinie.bayern.de .
The Conference of the Environment Ministers of the German Federal States in May 2005
declared based on the reports of all 16 Federal States that the key issues in order to reach the
good status in 2015 are
o Diffuse nutrient pollution (particularly agriculture)
o Hydromorphological alterations (due to dense settlement and long civilization in
Germany)
o In very few cases punctual pollution by hazardous substances
6 COMBINED APPROACH
There are essentially two strategies applied for reaching the goals of pollution control.
On the one hand we have the fixed emission standard approach and on the other hand the
environmental quality standard approach. The German national water protection policy was,
from 1945 onwards, predominantly based on the fixed emission approach.
The fixed emission approach is based on the assumption that anyone who discharges
wastewater into a water body must at least purify this wastewater in compliance with the set
standards, which must comply with the best available technology. The status of the water into
which the wastewater is discharged is of no relevance in this context. The environmental
quality standard approach, on the other hand, takes the actual or desired status of the receiving
water as a basis. Requirements for the discharge may differ substantially depending on the
conditions in the receiving water.
The environmental quality standard approach is sometimes criticised because of the lack of
knowledge in the interpretation of the receiving water status and the necessary huge
monitoring work. On the other hand, others say that particularly in the case of small water
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
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bodies, the schematic application of the minimum requirement does not always lead to
adequate purification.
Objections against the environmental quality standard approach claim that if desired water
parameters are defined, waters which are of a better quality will be "filled up" with pollutants
to these levels, and consequently, instead of an improvement in these waters, a deterioration
will occur. Within the European Union many also fear a distortion in competitive parity,
especially for industrial plants. It is also criticised that pollutants will ultimately not be
reduced, but merely diluted. As an example I should like to point out the clean air policy of
previous years, where high chimneys were used to apparently deal with environmental
pressures by distributing the pollutants over a wide area. This policy failed, at least in
Germany, and has now been corrected. Another example is the accumulation of pollutants in
the German Bay off the German and Danish North Sea coast.
Which is the better affordable strategy? We are together with the Commission of the opinion
that the best solution is the synthesis of both approaches. In Art. 10 WFD the combined
approach is now required. In accordance with the precautionary principle, the first step
concentrates on the fixed emission principle which forms the fundamental basis with
requirements for the best available technology. If the results are not adequate for protecting
the receiving water, more stringent requirements are made in a second step which can go as
far as prohibiting the discharge.
In this context I will present two examples in the German Danube river basin:
A Waste water treatment plant of the city of Munich
The discharge of the treated waste water of the city of Munich goes into the rest Isar (river
with a very restricted flow due to the diversion of a great deal of water in a hydropower
channel). To guarantee a sufficient river quality in spite of the huge discharge of treated waste
water stricter requirements were necessary than those according to the BAT laid down in the
German decree on waste water. Table 5 shows the limit values required in the authorisation.
To achieve these standards extended sludge aeration with denitrification and sandfilter were
necessary.
Table 5: Limit values WWTP Munich II Marienhof
Parameter Limit value required Limit value according
to BAT
COD 30 mg/l 125 mg/l 75 mg/l
BOD5 10 mg/l 25 mg/l 15 mg/l
SS 10 mg/l 35 mg/l ---
P 1 mg/l --- 1 mg/l
N 13 mg/l --- 13 mg/l
B Bathing water quality in the River Isar
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Limit value according to
German waste water
decree
The rivers Isar, Loisach, Würm and their banks are since long particularly attractive for
recreation in and around Munich. In spite of the very good ecological quality of these rivers
bathing water quality often is not guaranteed. That was why the special programme “Upper
Isar” was created by the Free State of Bavaria in order to equip the existing waste water
treatment plants with disinfection installations, in this case with UV-radiation.

Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
The concerned region comprises the river basin of the Isar upstream of Munich. 9 treatment
plants with together about 300 000 p. e. are now equipped with UV-radiation installations
operating since 2003 during the summer period (15 th April to 30 th September). The
municipalities participate voluntarily. State subventions were given.
The waste water treatment plant of Bad Tölz (82 000 p. e.) in the Alpine region was the first
plant with the disinfection of the waste water. The costs for the disinfection installation were
654 000 €, the yearly operation costs are about 20 000 € (1,2 cent/m 3 ).
The success of the “Upper Isar” programme stimulated the city of Munich and 5 towns in the
North of Munich to equip their treatment plants also with UV-radiation installations. Thus in
total 16 treatment plants including Munich II with about 1 730 000 p. e. dispose now of UVradiation
installations. The river quality control showed that in summer time the limit values
of the bathing water directive are nearly always complied with. Only during or shortly after
heavy rainfalls the river quality deteriorates.
Today other regions in Bavaria consider the possibility to disinfect their waste waters, too.
7 SENSITIVE AREAS DEFINED IN THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION AND
MEASURES APPLIED
In Germany all areas draining into the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are sensitive areas. The
German Danube river basin is not a sensitive area with the exception that the following parts
of the German Danube river basin are designated as sensitive areas:
- Catchment basins of the larger South Bavarian lakes.
- Catchment basin upstream of the Danube infiltration
In these areas, organic and nutrient pollution are eliminated following at least the
requirements of the UWWD.
In Germany no area has been designated as less sensitive area.
8 WATER PRICING AND ECONOMIC REGULATIONS
Article 9 WFD requests the recovery of the costs of water services (i. e. waste water disposal
and treatment services). Article 9 also requests that environmental and resource costs are
taken into account. This is partly done by imposing conditions on the discharge of treated
waste water and compensation measures. Member States are also asked to ensure by 2010 that
water pricing policies provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently.
8.1 Waste water disposal costs
Costs for wastewater disposal are made up as follows:
- Investment costs
- Operating costs (staff, plant equipment, maintenance)
- Reserves for replacements – amortisation
- Taxes and charges
The following average values can be given for Bavaria
Investment costs
Collecting system
Urban areas 1500-2500 EUR/inhabitant
Rural areas 2000-5000 EUR/ inhabitant
Sewage purification
Large plants (> 100 000) approx. 400 EUR/ inhabitant
Smaller plants (< 5000) approx. 800 EUR/ inhabitant
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Operating costs
Sewer network 15-20 EUR/ inhabitant per year
Sewage treatment plant 8-25 EUR/ inhabitant per year.
8.2 State support (subventions)
The financing of the public sewerage system is based on the polluter pays principle, i.e. the
party causing the pollution is responsible for financing the disposal or reduction thereof. It is
therefore the towns and municipalities that are also responsible for financing the wastewater
facilities to be built and operated by them.
The State of Bavaria supports the towns and municipalities regarding the required capital
expenditure in the form of grants and reduced interest loans, for up to 75% of the construction
costs. This is to compensate the greatly varying costs per head of population across Bavaria.
The amount of support is such that for grants in the order of approx. 1000 EUR to 5000
EUR/inhabitant, the balance borne by the municipality is roughly the same, i.e. approx. 1000
– 1300 EUR/inhabitant. Eligible for funds are sewage treatment plants, stormwater basins and
main sewers.
Since 1950 about 32 billion EUR have been invested in the construction of urban waste water
installations in Bavaria, about 8 billion EUR were granted by the Federal State of Bavaria to
the municipalities.
8.3 Distribution of the costs – Recovery of costs
All costs for wastewater disposal, excluding any grants received from the state, must be
allocated by the municipalities to the beneficiaries of the sewerage facilities, i.e. to the
connected households and industrial plants. This is regulated in the municipal by-laws on
contribution dues and charges. The allocation of costs must be fair, in most cases the
probability scale is adequate for this purpose. The allocation is in the form of
- connection contributions which are non-recurring and cover the investment costs in full or
in part and
- wastewater charges which are paid annually and which cover the annual costs, i.e.
predominantly operation costs and loan costs.
The model used in 92% of the cases in Bavaria recommends for the connection contributions
a) estate area …EUR/m 2
b) housing area …EUR/m 2 admissible or existent
The relation (a) : (b) may follow a individual scale, for instance 40 : 60.
A study in 1991 shows the following figures for 75% of waste water services in Bavaria:
Mostly: 1 – 3 EUR/m 2 estate area
(mean 1,5 EUR/m 2 )
and 3 – 15 EUR/m 2 housing area
(mean 6 EUR/m 2 )
That means for a house with 150 m 2 housing area and 1,000 m 2 estate area a connection
contribution between 1500 EUR and 6000 EUR.
The annual wastewater charges follow almost exclusively the fresh water scale EUR/ m 3 . This
system is easy to practise, equitable if the sewage is normally polluted and does not cause
great expenditure.
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The strictly proportional tariff is nowadays mostly used in Bavaria (and Germany).
Degressive tariffs are to be abolished (see article 9 WFD).
There exists no social element in German water tariffs. Sometimes a fixed invariable element
is added to the tariff system.
The wastewater charges in Bavaria are on average 1 – 2 EUR/m 3 , very seldom above 3 EUR/m 3 .
8.4 Economic and fiscal instruments
In Germany the following economic instruments are actually used efficiently:
• users charge above all for the use of groundwater (groundwater abstraction fees),
• wastewater charges,
• reduction of taxes,
• compensation payment to farmers in water protection zones.
The overall goal is to give incentives for a environmentally sound use of water to protect the
aquatic environment and to have money to support water protection measures.
���� User charges for water abstraction
In several German Federal States – not in Bavaria - charges for water abstraction are
obligatory. The lie between 5 cent/m 3 and 30 cent/m 3 in the different Federal States.
In Baden-Württemberg for instance these charges are partly used for the compensation
payment to farmers in water protection zones.
���� Wastewater charges
In Germany a wastewater charge is levied since 1981. Charges are to be paid for polluted
water and rain water. The obligation to pay lies with the discharger, that is the municipality or
the industry when discharging directly.
The wastewater charge is calculated to the unit of noxiousness multiplied with the specific
charge. The specific charge is now 35 EUR.
���� Reduction of taxes
A very efficient means practised since long in Germany is the reduction of taxes and above all
the increased reduction on goods serving for the protection of the environment. Goods are
classified as serving for the protection of the environment when they avoid, reduce or
eliminate:
• the production of waste water
• the damage caused by wastewater
• the water pollution caused by other substances than wastewater
• the air pollution
• the noise
• the refuse
In the year of the acquisition or the installation of such goods one may deduct 60% of the
investment from the receipt (profit) before taxes, in the next year 10% yearly.
9 CONCLUSIONS
In the field of waste water disposal the following key issues must be dealt with in future:
• Further improvement of surface water quality, particularly of small surface
waters in rural areas by
o Supplementing small waste water treatment plants
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Wastewater treatment and WFD 1 st December 2005
implementation in CEE Danube countries Bratislava, Slovakia
o Connecting – where feasible and affordable – parts of communes to
public waste water systems
• Optimisation of the efficiency of small individual waste water facilities by
auto-control, good maintenance and extern control
• Rehabilitation of storm water overflows, construction of storm water tanks
• Rehabilitation of leaky or over-load collecting systems
• Reducing waste water quantities and pollution loads in industry by
environmental measures integrated into the production
• Optimisation of the State and auto-control, partly privatisation
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