Safeguarding public health and food safety depend first and foremost on the safety of agricultural water when it is derived from wastewater discharges and used for food and feed production.
However, EU rules defining safety requirements for wastewater used for irrigation in agriculture have been ignored by central and regional institutions in Italy for more than 30 years. With immeasurable damage still ongoing.
1) Wastewater and agricultural water
1.1) Reuse of wastewater for irrigation use.
Wastewater-that is, water used in human, domestic, industrial or agricultural activities-can be reused, following purification. (1) The various scenarios for reuse include irrigation of crops intended for:
– Food production (e.g., fruit and vegetables, cereals and oilseeds, legumes),
– feed materials,
– Non-food agricultural products,
– Irrigation of areas designated for greenery, recreation or sports activities (see section 3 below).
1.2) Safety of irrigation water for food production.
The Ministry of the Environment (now Ministry of Ecological Transition, MiTE), by May 10, 2014, should have defined the physicochemical and microbiological parameters to ensure the safety of water intended for irrigation use on food crops and the related verification methods (Environment Code, Art. 166 paragraph 4-bis. See footnote 2)
Eight years after the deadline expired, however, the ministry delegated by the Italian legislature to define the aforementioned parameters has not fulfilled its obligations. This does not, in any case, exclude the responsibility of all public and private actors involved to ensure food safety.
1.3) General Responsibilities
The general responsibilities for ensuring the safety of wastewater intended for reuse for irrigation of agricultural crops fall in each case-according to the principle of integrated responsibility for food safety introduced by the General Food Law (EC Reg. 178/02, Article 17)-on:
– Operators of municipal wastewater treatment plants,
– Reclamation and irrigation consortia,
– authorities in charge of agricultural water control (ARPA and ASL, primarily),
– farmers, food processing and distribution enterprises,
– Italian state, regions and autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano. (3)
2) Environmental Code. General water protection regulations
The Environmental Code-in Section II, dedicated to the protection of water from pollution-defines the general rules for the protection of surface, marine and groundwater.
2.1) Protection Objectives
The water safety and quality protection objectives defined by the Environmental Code are:
(a) prevent and reduce pollution and implement the rehabilitation of polluted water bodies,
(b) Achieve the improvement of water status and adequate protections of those for particular uses,
(c) Pursue sustainable and sustainable uses of water resources, with priority given to potable water resources,
(d) Maintain the natural self-purification capacity of water bodies, as well as the ability to sustain large and well-diversified animal and plant communities,
(e) mitigate the effects of floods and drought,
(f) prevent further deterioration, protect and improve the status of aquatic ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands that are directly dependent on aquatic ecosystems in terms of water needs.
2.2) Protective instruments
The tools identified to achieve the above goals are:
– The identification of environmental quality objectives and by specific destination of water bodies,
– integrated protection of quality and quantity aspects within each river basin district and an appropriate system of controls and sanctions,
– compliance with the limit values to discharges set by the state, as well as the establishment of limit values in relation to the quality objectives of the receiving body,
– The upgrading of sewer, collection and treatment systems for water discharges, as part of the integrated water service,
– The identification of measures to prevent and reduce pollution in vulnerable zones and sensitive areas,
– The identification of measures aimed at conserving, saving, reusing and recycling water resources,
– The adoption of measures for the gradual reduction of discharges, emissions and any other sources of diffuse pollution containing hazardous substances or for their gradual elimination,
– The adoption of the measures to control discharges and emissions to surface water using a combined approach.
2.3) Reclamation and irrigation consortia
Reclamation and irrigation consortia have the competence and responsibility to provide water for agriculture through the implementation and management of:
– Water networks mainly for irrigation purposes,
– Facilities for agricultural utilization of wastewater,
– Rural aqueducts and other facilities functional to irrigation and reclamation systems,
– Flowing water in consortium canals and cables for uses involving the return of water.
3) Agricultural waters, specific discipline
Irrigated waters are subject to specific regulations rooted in European legislation, both in place and in the making:
– Technical standards for the reuse of wastewater referred to in the regulation in Ministerial Decree. Environment 12.6.03, no. 185 (in implementation of Leg. 11.5.99, n. 152 implementing Directives 91/271/EEC and 91/676/EEC. See note 4),
– Environment Code, where irrigated waters are subject to special regulations on water quality and discharges (Legislative Decree No. 152, 3.4.06, Art. 166.3),
– reg. EU 2020/741. The organic and structural reform of EU rules to guard the safety and quality of agricultural waters, effective 26.6.23. (5)
3.1) Technical standards for wastewater reuse.
DM 185/03 specifies the quality parameters of wastewater for the purpose of its civil or agricultural reuse. Defining, in a special table, their chemical-physical and microbiological requirements (DM 185/03, Art. 4).
3.2) Technical standards on urban wastewater.
Discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants, as required by the Environmental Code, must also comply:
– to the limit values defined by the regions or, in the meantime, to existing regional laws,
– to the emission limits given in the appropriate table (Legislative Decree 3.4.06 No. 152, All. 5, Part III).
3.3) Technical standards on industrial wastewater.
The emission limits specified at the national and regional levels must also be complied with in discharges of industrial wastewater to surface water. With specific requirements, for discharges containing hazardous substances.
The Veneto Region’s failure to supervise discharges of PFAS-polluted industrial wastewater was recently censured by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights implications of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. (6)
4) Sanctions in Italy
4.1) Administrative Penalties
Anyone who in making a discharge exceeds the emission limit values established in the Environmental Code (Legislative Decree 3.4.06 No. 152, All. 5, Part III) shall be punished with an administrative penalty of 3,000 to 30,000 euros.
If the non-compliance relates to discharges flowing into water resource protection areas for human consumption, or into water bodies located in protected areas, the administrative penalty may not be less than 20,000 euros.
4.2) Criminal penalties and administrative liability of entities
Criminal penalties are defined:
– in the Criminal Code, for the crimes of water poisoning (Article 439), environmental pollution (Article 452-bis), environmental disaster (Art. 452-quater). Crimes also punishable in cases of guilt (Articles 452, 452-quinquies),
– in the Environment Code, for the discharge of industrial wastewater that exceeds the limit values for hazardous substances and other pipelines. Misdemeanors in turn punishable by wilful misconduct or negligence (d.lgs. 3.4.06 no. 152, art. 137).
The aforementioned crimes also entail the administrative liability of entities in whose interest they were committed, pursuant to Leg. 231/01, Article 25-undecies. (7)
5) Wastewater, the Italian disaster.
The Italian Republic has collected three convictions from theEuropean Court of Justice (ECJ)-and four European infringement proceedings, followed by sanctions in the range of hundreds of millions of euros-for serious failures to implement Directive 91/271/EEC, on wastewater treatment:
On 5/31/18, the EU Court of Justice last sentenced Italy to a €25 million fine, plus €30.1 million for each six-month delay in compliance. For still failing to organize urban wastewater collection and treatment systems in a significant number of agglomerations in the ten years since the first conviction (8,9,10,11).
Until when?
Dario Dongo and Giulia Torre
Notes
(1) Council Directive 91/271/EEC of May 21, 1991, concerning urban wastewater treatment. Text updated 1.1.14 on Europa Lex, https://bit.ly/3IJPmYk
(2) Legislative Decree. 3.4.06 n. 152 as amended, so-called Environmental Code. Text updated 17.1.22 on Normattiva, https://bit.ly/3LumZ2c
(3) See paragraph 2(Concurrent legislation) in the previous article. Sustainable development in the Constitution and the vices of Italian democracy. #CleanSpades
(4) Ministry of Environment and Land Protection (now MiTE). Decree 12.6.03, no. 185. Regulation on technical standards for wastewater reuse in implementation of Article 26, Paragraph 2, of Leg. 11.5.99, n. 152. On Normattiva, https://bit.ly/3tvbgIn
(5) Dario Dongo, Ylenia Patti Giammello. Agricultural waters and food security, reg. EU 2020/741. THE ABC’S. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9/26/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/acque-agricole-e-sicurezza-alimentare-reg-ue-2020-741-l-abc
(6) Dario Dongo. Human rights and pesticides, PFAS, hazardous waste. OHCHR audit in Italy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.1.22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/diritti-umani-e-pesticidi-pfas-rifiuti-pericolosi-audit-ohchr-in-italia
(7) See Criminal Cassation, Section III. Judgment 27.1.20, no. 3157 (following hearing 4.10.19)
(8) EU Court of Justice, judgment 31.5.18.European Commission v. Italian Republic. Case C-251/17. https://bit.ly/3hEhG2r
(9) ECJ, judgment 6.10.21. European Commission v. Italian Republic. Case C-668/19. https://bit.ly/3HE8WEd
(10) Environment and land management. Water management and protection. House of Representatives. Studies – Environment. 7.1.22, https://temi.camera.it/leg18/temi/tl18_gestione_e_tutela_acque.html
(11) Single Commissioner for Purification. Infringement procedures. https://commissariounicodepurazione.it/procedure-infrazioni/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law, master in European Food Law, she deals with agro-food, veterinary and agricultural legislation. She is a PhD in agrisystem.
