23.7.2005   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 182/32

1.

declare that, by failing to subject the urban waste water from Sueca, its districts and certain municipalities of La Ribera (Valencia) to appropriate treatment before discharging it in an area declared sensitive, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 3, 4 and 5(2) of Council Directive 91/271/EEC (1) of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment;

2.

order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

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The Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 3 of the directive. In accordance with that article, Member States are to ensure that collecting systems are provided at the latest by 31 December 1998 for agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10 000 when they discharge urban waste waters into receiving waters which are considered ‘sensitive areas’. Both the agglomeration of Sueca and the majority of the agglomerations of the region of La Ribera in the province of Valencia have a population equivalent of more than 10 000 and discharge their water into an area which has been declared ‘sensitive’. However, they have not yet provided collecting systems for all the waste water of those towns.

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The Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 4 and 5 of the directive. Those two articles require that, by 31 December 1998 at the latest, urban waste water from agglomerations of more than 10 000 inhabitants is to be subject to treatment which is more rigorous than secondary treatment before being discharged in sensitive areas. However, not all waste water from Sueca is subject to treatment which is more rigorous than secondary treatment before being discharged into a sensitive area in the sea. Nor is most of the waste water from the agglomerations of the region of La Ribera subject to appropriate treatment before being discharged into the same sensitive area. The coastal districts of Sueca (El Perelló, Las Palmeres, Mareny de Barraquetes, Playa del Rey and Boga de Mar), with a population in summer of 37 000 — 51 000 persons, only subject their water to secondary treatment before it is discharged into the same sensitive area.