Current situation of sanitation and wastewater treatment in small Spanish agglomerations

Abstract

Since the 1st of January of 2006, all the agglomerations in the EU Member States must have a collection and treatment system for urban wastewater. The large and medium size populations were the first in being provided by treatment infrastructures, according to the 91/271/EEC Directive’s schedule, meanwhile the small populations (less than 2,000 population equivalent) have been pushed into the background. One of the objectives of the Spanish Programme on Sanitation and Wastewater Treatment (2007–2015) is to address the sanitation and treatment of small populations. However, the information regarding the status of sanitation in those populations is limited and not clear. In order to moderate this lack of information, the Centre for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works and the Centre for New Water Technologies, commissioned by the former Ministry of Environment, have conducted a study based on the compilation and analysis of both diverse official documents and direct inquiries to the responsible authorities in the matter. According to the information compiled, it can be concluded that the coverage of sanitation and wastewater treatment in small Spanish populations is less than 50% and it is estimated that more than 6,000 small size wastewater treatment plants should be built in the near future where long-term solutions must be promoted.

Keywords:

• Sanitation
• Wastewater treatment
• Small populations
• Spain

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Environment for supporting this study. Also they want to thanks to the panel of experts and regional authorities for their contribution to the development of this work.

Notes

The Third International Congress Smallwat11—Wastewater in Small Communities April 25–28, 2011, Seville, Spain