Is your wastewater treatment system compliant? Are you sure you meet European, regional, and/or local regulations? Get informed appropriately from the competent authorities, or contact Dora Baltea for consultancy.
An exemplary case is that of the municipality of Sassari, which is taking action to limit non-compliant systems and environmental pollution risks.
It has indeed decided that:
“to avoid damage to the environment as well as possible infringement procedures for non-compliance of urban wastewater treatment systems by the European Community, it will no longer issue discharge permits for systems consisting solely of Imhoff pits with dispersal pipes.”
No more systems of solely Imhoff pits, no more subsurface irrigation systems, Imhoff pits, and drainage systems.
The issue is relevant only beyond a certain threshold of p.e. (population equivalent, read here for more details)
Specifically, it concerns residential settlements and productive activities that have a type of domestic discharge within a residential agglomeration.
Therefore, where it is not possible to create a proper sewage network for any economic, logistical, or environmental reasons, in that case, the treatment systems must necessarily reach the required level of environmental protection for that agglomeration.
Be careful if you sell, install, or own these types of systems (subsurface irrigation, Imhoff, etc.) because they may not be approved by the competent authorities and consequently subject to penalties.
For more information, contact Dora Baltea for in-depth consultancy.
Referenced directives:
Regional Directive “Discipline of discharges” approved by RAS Resolution 69/25 of 10.12.200
Directive 91/271/EEC of May 21
NORMATIVE UPDATEExcerpt from the site http://www.provincia.sassari.it/sc/acque_reflue_domesti
DISCHARGES OF DOMESTIC WASTEWATER
Water - Authorization for Domestic Discharges
To obtain the authorization for the discharge of domestic wastewater, it is necessary to submit a request using the attached form, complete with the documents listed therein.
Referring to the Regional Directive “Discipline of discharges” approved by RAS Resolution 69/25 of 10.12.2008, which in Annex 3 identifies the Imhoff pit followed by subsurface irrigation as an appropriate treatment for agglomerations up to 50 p.e. Referring to Directive 91/271/EEC of May 21, 1991, which establishes the minimum treatment standards for urban wastewater and defines in Article 2 agglomeration as the area where the population and/or economic activities are sufficiently concentrated to allow the collection and conveyance of wastewater to a treatment system or to a final discharge point.
It is noted that if residential settlements and productive activities with a type of domestic discharge are located in an agglomeration of more than 50 p.e., the treatment systems indicated in the CITAI resolution of February 4, 1977 cannot be considered appropriate and therefore will not be authorized. Where the construction of a sewage network is not justified, either because it would not provide environmental benefits or because it would incur excessive costs, only treatment systems that allow reaching the required level of environmental protection for that agglomeration will be authorized. In the authorization procedure for discharge, data from the relevant Municipality will be used to determine the agglomeration, particularly the number of resident and fluctuating inhabitants. To this end, a request for information will be sent to the competent Municipal Administration, which will suspend the terms of the administrative procedure. " In the territory of the Municipality of Sassari, considering that the Municipal Administration has not yet prepared a detailed study defining any peri-urban perimeter zones that may be included within an agglomeration, and thus it is not possible to establish whether the treatment of wastewater consisting of an Imhoff pit with a dispersal pipe is an appropriate treatment system, due to the precautionary principle established by Article 3ter of Legislative Decree 152/2006, to avoid damage to the environment as well as possible infringement procedures for non-compliance of urban wastewater treatment systems by the European Community, this Administration will no longer issue discharge permits for systems consisting solely of Imhoff pits with dispersal pipes.
This provision will apply to all applications for authorization to discharge domestic wastewater and wastewater assimilated to domestic wastewater, resulting from both residential settlements and productive activities, received by the Entity's protocol since January 1, 2017.
Renewal requests related to non-expired authorizations will be accepted pending the preparation by the Municipal Administration of the aforementioned detailed study."
