{"id":169762,"date":"2024-05-16T13:24:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T11:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ainia.com\/?p=167847"},"modified":"2025-07-10T08:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T06:40:36","slug":"organic-microcontaminants-in-wastewater-how-to-reduce-their-environmental-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ainia.com\/en\/ainia-news\/organic-microcontaminants-in-wastewater-how-to-reduce-their-environmental-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic microcontaminants in wastewater: How to reduce their environmental impact?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Water is a public good, belonging to everyone and for everyone. The importance of water as an essential resource for the development and survival of living beings is beyond debate, making it an increasingly scarce and depleted resource, as well as unequally distributed, as can be seen in areas affected by water stress, which are significantly increasing in Spain. Thus, the demand for drinking water continues to rise, intrinsically linked to population growth, economic development, ecological degradation, and, of course, consumption patterns.<\/p>\n

New regulations for more efficient treatment and control of wastewater streams<\/h2>\n

As one of the actions to address this issue, the revision of Directive 91\/271\/EEC on the treatment of urban wastewater (Amendments approved by the European Parliament on October 5, 2023, on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the treatment of urban wastewater (consolidated version) (COM(2022)0541 \u2014 C9-6363\/2022 \u2014 2022\/0345(COD)) (europa.eu)<\/a>) aims to introduce new standards for more efficient treatment and control of wastewater streams<\/strong>, thus moving closer to the objectives defined by the European Union for Zero Pollution. Therefore, it can be considered that this revision updates the Directive by expanding its scope and application, highlighting the involvement of the water cycle sector and wastewater treatment as significant actors in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and defining a timeframe for the sector to achieve energy neutrality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Expansion of producer responsibility in wastewater treatment<\/h2>\n

This, in turn, would lead to an expansion of the producer responsibility regime, further involving these stakeholders in wastewater treatment, thereby encouraging a more equitable contribution to wastewater treatment from the most polluting sectors<\/strong> (both in terms of volume and pollutant load) to ensure high-quality treated water that is useful for restoring receiving environments or reusing such treated water (as indicated, for example, in EU Regulation 2020\/741 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 2020 on minimum requirements for water reuse).<\/p>\n

Among the various proposed modifications are:<\/p>\n