Wetland Technology and the Water Framework Directive

The EU is addressing this problem by introducing what is arguably the most wide reaching legislation since the Common Agricultural Policy. There are 4 main pieces of legislation which directly affect - or will affect - the water environment. They are:

• Introduction

• The Water Framework Directive

• The EU Floods Directive

• The Nitrates Directive

• The Urban Wastewater Directive

Some of these directives are already in force. Others are coming in the future. All have two

things in common - firstly, a requirement for the  regulators of member states to take

responsibility to set and impose standards designed to halt the decline and improve water quality, and secondly, the need to develop innovative technologies to meet the new standards.

Constructed wetlands offer new solutions to many water quality issues. They are not simply another alternative to an existing technology. Industrial wastewaters, industrial run-off pollution, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs), Combined Sewers Overflow (CSO) and Earth Observation (EO) capacity for WwTWs, domestic and agricultural effluents, amongst others, can all be treated using constructed wetlands.

This seminar aims to bring together consultants, regulators, designers, researchers, installers and conservationists to explore the use and development of constructed wetlands, building on present experience, to meet and resolve current and future regulatory and water quality issues.