Annex 1:Background of the main reporting requirements for Questionnaire-2013
WHAT is ADDRESSED in the UWWTD Questionnaire-2013?
The Questionnaire-2013contains the request to report the information inventory onthe core elements of the Directive, in particular:
1. Inventory and geo-referenced information on designated sensitive areas and their catchments (including designated less sensitive areas, if any[1]);
2. Information at agglomeration level covering waste water collection, treatment level and performance for all agglomerations for which the deadlines of the directive and the Accession Treaties have expired;
3. Aggregated information at Member State level on waste water reuse and sewage sludge management.
Similarly to the former Questionnaire-2011, an additional set of parameters has been included in the Questionnaire-2013: some of them with the purpose of being used to prefill the UWWT relevant information requirements in the OECD/EUROSTAT Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters and thus enabling the streamlining of UWWTD and EUROSTAT data flows, on a voluntary basis, and others with the objective of gathering additional information on individual or other appropriate systems applied instead of collecting systems in agglomerations generating an organic load above 100000 p.e.
A short summary of themain information request is described in the box below.
Box: Short technical description of the main reporting requirements- The Questionnaire-2013contrainsthree parts:
- Information on designated sensitive areas and their catchments (and also less sensitive areas in case they have been designated)
- Information about agglomerations, including
(b)Complete information per each agglomeration: part (a) plus information on waste water collection, conduction, treatment performance, etc.
- Aggregated information at Member State level on sewage sludge and waste water reuse
- Thereference year to report is2012 and if this is not possible, 2011; status as on 31/12/2012; monitoring results for the year 2012: from 01/01/2012 to 31/12/2012.
- Alternatively, 2011 data could be reported if available, but the information for the entire Member State has to be consistent and refer to a unique, clearly indicated, reporting year – either 2011 or 2012 – to avoid mixing information from different years.
- Member States being part of the EU before 2004 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) are requested to report
- information for all three parts mentioned above (1, 2 and 3; see list of parameters in Annex 2) including all information about agglomerations related to 1998, 2000,2005 deadlines and deadlines pursuant to Articles 5(6) and (7)
- Member States having acceded to the EU since 2004 (Bulgaria, Croatia[2], Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) are requested to report
- information for all three parts mentioned above (1, 2 and 3; see list of parameters in Annex 2) including all information about agglomerations for which transitional periods have already expired
- master data for agglomerations for which transitional periods have not expired yet
- Master data includes the parameters presented in Annex 2, Data Block 2, in particular, Master data of agglomeration, Master data of treatment plant, Master data of discharge point and receiving area.
In addition, Member States have the possibility, to provide additional information beyond the requirements of the Directive. Relevant data blocks are indicated in the description of data blocks as 'additional parameters’. This data will not be used for the compliance checking exercise. The purpose of this request is to obtain additional data that can be used by other EU institutions (e.g. EEA- for the assessment of the state of the environment, Eurostat- for pre-filling the Joint Questionnaire on Inland Water), which then do not have to request this data via their reporting exercises and thus implement the principle “report once, use many times”.
Reporting under the UWWTD will be carried out by uploading data into WISE via ReportNet[3] (the European Environment Agency's electronic infrastructure for data collection).
The electronic IT- web tool is recommended to be used to compile the dataset and create xml file. It enables data compilation (either from csv or xml files) and subsequent extensive quality checks. Another option to generate xml file consist in direct export from national databases (without import into the web tool).
Member States have the right to submit reports on the implementation of EU legislation in their national languages. This basic right is not altered by introducing an electronic reporting tool. However, in practical terms and taking account of the budgetary constraints of the Commission, the presentation of the electronic reporting tool and the help documentation is provided only in English. This approach is consistent with the two last reporting exercises (Questionnaires 2009 and 2011) and with the approach agreed for the Water Framework Directive reporting.
Structured Information and Implementation Frameworks (SIIFs)
The Commission is currently working towards a new concept for the information provision, reporting, processing and assessment of data on implementation of the UWWTD in line with objectives set out in a Commission Communication on implementation of environmental measures[4] and the 7th Environmental Action Programme. This exercise should result in the development of ‘Structured Information and Implementation Frameworks’ (SIIFs) that allows for the effective management and dissemination of data and information related to the implementation of this Directive towards the public and the different government levels involved in the implementation process. With this purpose, the Commission started in 2012 a pilot project with a few Member States. Results of this exercise are communicated to the Members of the UWWTD Committee and through Workshops[5] on a regular basis.
Member States participating in the SIIF Pilot exercises are invited to consider providing information through SIIF ifthey havedeveloped and published online a (pilot/demo or prototype) national SIIFduring the current reporting exercise. Pilot Member States will therefore have the possibility to automate the legal compliance assessment, providing the results for each agglomeration as presented to the public, using the SIIF Template.
Pilot Member States which intend to use this option are invited to inform the Commission's services as soon as they know that it is feasible (in the timeframe of this reporting exercise) in order to make the necessary arrangements.
TECHNICAL HELP DESK:
Member States are asked to up-load their UWWTD-files (GIS-files, tabular data as xml-files, additional documents and reports) into a Central Data Repository (CDR)[6]. For this reporting exercise, the European Environment Agency (EEA) provided the access rights to the reporters nominated by the Member States to upload the report in WISE.
Instructions on “How to use ReportNet for reporting under the Urban Waste Water treatment Directive” for the submission of the reports from the Member States in pursuance of UWWTD[7],are available at
(under “Dataflow specific instructions”)
All technical supporting documents are also available via this help document. The Commission provided relevant practical explanations on the reporting process[8], during the workshop on reporting held in May 2009.
In case of login or other problems the following address can be used:
A technical help desk on the reporting exercise will be provided by the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC-ICM), and will be available for six months after the launch of the reporting exercise for Questionnaire 2013. The helpdesk can be contacted via e-mail on
[1]Information on less sensitive areas if they are designated, have to be also reported.
[2] On a voluntary basis
[3]
[4]COM (2012)95 ‘Improving the delivery of benefits from the EU environment measures: building confidence through better knowledge and responsiveness’
[5]
[6] the country and the envelope –UWWTD to submit the country report
[7] At select the country, the issue – water, the organisation – DG ENV(EC) and then UWWT Directive
[8] All documentation of the workshop is available from CIRCA at: