EU Court of Justice condemns Spain over wastewater deficiencies

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has condemned Spain for failing to comply with European regulations on urban wastewater. The court identified serious deficiencies in the collection, treatment, and monitoring of wastewater discharges in around thirty localities, mainly in Andalusia and the Canary Islands.

In a judgment delivered on 18 December, the European Court ruled that Spain has repeatedly breached the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The ruling concerns numerous urban agglomerations where Spain failed to ensure the collection, treatment, and control of wastewater discharges as required under EU law.

Many failures across Spain

The court, based in Luxembourg, upheld the complaint brought by the European Commission, which referred the case to the EU judiciary after identifying persistent shortcomings in wastewater management across dozens of areas nationwide. According to the court’s press service, the infringements affect around 50 urban agglomerations and inter-municipal areas with more than 10,000 inhabitants. These include areas in the Canary Islands, up to 11 all located on the island of Tenerife, and 15 agglomerations in Andalusia. Larger population centres such as Donostia-San Sebastián, Cáceres, and Mérida are also affected.

Technical shortcomings

The ruling, made public on Thursday 18 December, finds that Spain failed to adopt the necessary measures to ensure proper wastewater collection in multiple localities. The shortcomings are particularly evident in municipalities in the Canary Islands, where individual wastewater systems were used that did not meet the conditions laid down in EU legislation.

In addition, in at least 34 agglomerations the collected wastewater does not receive secondary treatment, or an equivalent level of treatment, required by the UWWTD before being discharged. In a further 19 agglomerations that discharge into sensitive areas, Spain failed to apply the more stringent treatment procedures mandated by the UWWTD.

Hearing and legal assessment

On Wednesday 17 December, Spain presented its arguments at a hearing before the CJEU in Luxembourg, according to the Spanish press agency Efe. In its judgment, the court underlines Spain’s failure to comply with wastewater discharge monitoring obligations, noting that in many urban agglomerations compliance with the technical requirements set out in the UWWTD was not adequately verified. The court considers these shortcomings to constitute a continuing infringement of the provisions governing the collection, treatment, and monitoring of urban wastewater.

Spain risks financial penalties

Although the judgment does not immediately impose financial penalties, it opens the possibility for the European Commission to request the imposition of coercive fines or lump-sum penalties if Spain fails to effectively address and correct the deficiencies identified by the court.