Water Quality - Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
Sewage Treatment in the UK: Implementation of the
EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (the Directive) was agreed in 1991. It is one of a number of European Directives (laws) which protect both the water environment and our use of water for drinking, recreation or industry.
The Directive has requirements for sewerage (or collection systems) to be established and sets standards for sewage treatment. The general principle of the Directive is to provide treatment of sewage from the largest discharges first, and to protect sensitive waters. The maps below show the main cities and towns and related waste water treatment across the UK.
Implementation of Secondary Treatment as at 31-12-2001 and Tertiary Treatment in Place or Planned (at specified dates) |
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England and Wales:
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Northern Ireland
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Scotland
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| Note: because of the large amount of fine detail in the maps, each of these thumbnail images acts as a link to a larger-size version (each image file is some 200kb - 300kb in size). If you need a printable version you may wish to download this Adobe Acrobat version (note - 1.8MB in size) of the maps. | ||
Tables A and B represent the number of AGGLOMERATIONS, their associated collecting systems, and the category of receiving waters in the UK for 1998 and 2000.
Table A - Table of agglomerations and collecting systems in the United Kingdom at 1998
| Receiving water class type | Normal areas | Sensitive areas (Article 5 (1)) | Less sensitive areas (Article 6) | |||||||||||||
| A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
Total for all areas | ||||||||||
| Size class of agglomeration | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | ||
| from 2,000 to 10,000 pe | 956 | 4,380,525 | 69 | 324,101 | 51 | 252,518 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8,200 | 0 | 0 | 1078 | 4,965,344 | ||
| from 10,000 to 15,000 pe | 143 | 1,747,935 | 27 | 314,404 | 37 | 446,348 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 207 | 2,508,687 | ||
| from 15,000 to 150,000 pe | 406 | 18,312,818 | 73 | 3,952,473 | 120 | 4,855,192 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 304,050 | 608 | 27,424,533 | ||
| > 150,000 pe | 75 | 33,527,086 | 10 | 4,491,892 | 11 | 2,811,199 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 614,400 | 102 | 42,058,977 | ||
| Total for categories | 1580 | 57,968,364 | 179 | 9,082,870 | 219 | 8,365,257 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8,200 | 15 | 918,450 | 1995 | 76,957,541 | ||
Table B - Table of agglomerations and collecting systems in the United Kingdom at 2000
| Receiving water class type | Normal areas | Sensitive areas (Article 5 (1)) | Less sensitive areas (Article 6) | |||||||||||||
| A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
A. Freshwaters and estuaries |
B. Coastal waters |
Total for all areas | ||||||||||
| Size class of agglomeration | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | N° | t.p.e. | ||
| from 2,000 to 10,000 pe | 958 | 4,388,725 | 69 | 324,101 | 51 | 252,518 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1078 | 4,965,344 | ||
| from 10,000 to 15,000 pe | 143 | 1,747,935 | 27 | 314,404 | 37 | 446,348 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 207 | 2,508,687 | ||
| from 15,000 to 150,000 pe | 406 | 18,312,818 | 77 | 4,061,173 | 120 | 4,855,192 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 195,350 | 608 | 27,424,533 | ||
| > 150,000 pe | 75 | 33,527,086 | 16 | 5,720,692 | 11 | 2,811,199 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 42,058,977 | ||
| Totals for categories | 1582 | 57,976,564 | 189 | 10,420,370 | 219 | 8,365,257 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 195,350 | 1995 | 76,957,541 | ||
Notes on Tables A
and B above
Table B reflects the removal of all Less Sensitive Areas (LSAs) from the
British mainland, where agglomerations discharging into the previously
designated LSAs now appear under normal waters. The 5 remaining agglomerations
in the LSAs columns relate to discharges into the remaining UK LSAs in
the Scottish Isles and in Northern Ireland.
N° number of agglomerations/collecting systems in the size and receiving
water type class. With a very few exceptions, an agglomeration is the
community served by a shared sewer network and served by the same treatment
works.
t.p.e. total population equivalent for all the agglomerations/collecting
systems in the size and receiving water type class.
Page published 25 April
2002;
Page last modified
29 September, 2002