Improving wastewater management remains a strategic challenge for many countries in the Danube River Basin. Success in this field is the key to reaching water resources protection targets, meeting Sustainable Development Goals on water and to keeping pace with EU accession and harmonization processes.

The EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and Water Framework Directive (WFD) mandate significant increases in collection and treatment levels, and the necessary infrastructures to comply with those directives are either already under construction - or will be in the near future.

However, providing adequate wastewater collection, treatment and disposal in rural areas (below 2,000 population equivalent) is a neglected topic in many regions, often overshadowed by wastewater management and compliance requirements of large urban agglomerations.

A lack of awareness in administrations, and society in general, and a resulting lack of financial, technical and staff resources are responsible for underwhelming progress in providing small rural communities with adequate sewage collection systems and treatment facilities.

The International Commission for Protection of the Danube River and the World Bank in the frame of the Danube Water Program have organized a workshop on this topic. Held on January 19-20, 2021, it aimed to increase awareness and understanding of rural wastewater issues, to present feasible approaches to overcome the present constraints, and to create a framework for enabling sustainable and decentralized wastewater treatment solutions for rural areas.

To access the full event report as well as the recordings, please follow the link below and check the post-event links at the end of the page.