Stricter regulation for wastewater
helps reduce pollution to the Baltic Sea

23 November 2012 (HELCOM Information Services) – Another HELCOM member country has taken a major step towards better ecological status of the Baltic Sea when Estonia yesterday informed a HELCOM Workshop on adoption of new requirements for municipal wastewater treatment plants. The regulation will meet the Baltic Sea Action Plan’s treatment standard on advanced sewage treatment, in line with HELCOM Recommendations 28E/5 and 28E/6.

The news is appraised by the HELCOM’s Land-based Pollution Group Workshop continuing today in Dessau, Germany. Improving municipal waste water treatment is a highly cost-efficient measure to reduce phosphorus loads, a major cause of pollution in the Baltic Sea. Many cities in the region have improved their treatment standards in recent years, and are meeting the requirements set by the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, however HELCOM has recommended a stricter standard to save the sensitive marine environment of the Baltic Sea.

“HELCOM has worked persistently for introducing sufficient regional standards for a good environmental status of the Baltic Sea, and it is always exciting to witness solid signs of progress. This achievement can now be reported in the HELCOM summit in October 2013, which will assess the progress and overall state of the sea’s ecosystem and look into the best applicable future measures,” says Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of HELCOM.

Other items in the Workshop include the reduction of pollution from fertilizer production (HELCOM Recommendation 17/6), with a specific focus on phosphogypsum waste management issues and related monitoring. The matter has been triggered by the findings of BALTHAZAR Project earlier this year in Kingisepp, Russia, and a situation update of the fertilizer plant in question is presented in the Workshop. Also related to the discussions on limiting industry-related emissions and discharges of nutrients, Lithuania will present information on AB Lifosa in Kedainiai, which is proposed to be deleted from the “hot spot” list of polluters. Other countries possessing similar fertilizer producing facilities and related waste deposits will also inform about their environmental performance.

Apart from compliance investigations and sharing best practices, further topics in the busy Workshop agenda include reduction of discharges from water and marine fish farming, updating the HELCOM List of hazardous substances, and diffuse sources of pollution such as agriculture, among others.

Note for editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organization of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU, working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation.

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", known as the Helsinki Convention.

For further information, please contact:

Mikhail Durkin

Professional Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 46 850 9195

Fax: +358 207 412 645

E-mail: mikhail.durkin@helcom.fi

Skype: helcom04 

Johanna Laurila

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 40 523 8988

Fax: +358 207 412 639

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi

Skype: helcom70