Circular water economy: a growth weakened by the future EU regulation?
22/06/2018
Note to the economic and institutional actors of the water cycle.
Authors: N.CONDOM, PhD-CEO Ecofilae and B.MOLLE, PhD- Irstea
Date: 2018/06/25
Resume
On May 25th, 2018, the European commission has proposed a regulation on the reuse of treated wastewater (TWW) for agriculture. This proposal was the result of 4 years of work of the ATG Group in which we were a part of. The proposed regulation incompletely reflects the State of art shared in this group. Over the past 10 years our actions were intended to promote and develop the reuse of controlled wastewater in Europe and in the Mediterranean by supporting involved actors (industry, waste water producers, end-users, OEMs, consultant study or public managers). Based on our expertise, we think that this regulation which concerns only agricultural irrigation, will refrain all development of treated wastewater (TWW) recycling in Europe and any prospect of nutrients recovery in a circular economy perspective. Not to mention the heavy load of administrative documents which will make the level of disinfection required exceed € 1 / m3 of treated water. Such unjustified health requirements for number of uses, will lead to a result, which is contrary to the objectives of the commission that aims to "stimulate and facilitate the reuse of wastewater treated in agriculture".
We want, through this open letter, to alert the public and private sector’s actors and to answer the enquiry that is posted here.