European Court finds UK guilty of breaching clean water law – see 2nd article
The UK has been found to be in breach of EU law (Case C‑502/15) about the treatment of sewage and urban waste water discharged in a number of areas. This is, in effect, a series of 13 declarations – ranging from the failure to subject the urban waste water in the Gibraltar agglomeration to any treatment by 2005 to requiring more stringent treatment for the discharges from Tiverton or Chelmsford into sensitive areas. One breach that gained particular attention was the one in Carmarthenshire. Overflow pipes are used to help stop flooding at the Burry Inlet near Llanelli. However, the ECJ ruled that this broke clean water laws in a special conservation area. The area includes salt marshes and is a habitat for thousands of wild birds during the winter. It should be noted that back in September 2009, the National Assembly for Wales was presented with a petition calling for a public inquiry into mass cockle mortalities at the Burry Inlet. A further report was published by the Petitions Committee for the National Assembly for Wales in July 2012. The UK wasn’t fined but was ordered to pay legal costs. Part of the complaint is the amount of time that not only has been taken so far, but also how much more time was proposed to be taken to resolve the issue. The UK had argued that improvements made would mean that it could comply with EU clean water laws by 2020. However, the European Court found that the UK had acted too late and had been failing in its obligations since 2005 – not the first time that the necessary investment to improve environmental impact has taken too long.