International comparisons - environmental performance: results for 2006-07

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Environmental performance	Water balance	Water efficiency	Leakage	Network activity

International comparisons - environmental performance: results for 2006-07

Key conclusions

Whereas companies in England and Wales generally treat sewage to at least secondary level, most Australian sewage now receives tertiary treatment. In Canada, sewage is only treated to secondary level.
Over the past five years, England and Wales have maintained a high level of compliance with the mandatory microbiological standards of the EU Bathing Water Directive.

Table 12 compares the levels of sewage treatment in England and Wales, Scotland, Australia and Canada. In England and Wales, 45% of sewage is now treated to tertiary level, which is a higher percentage than in Scotland or Canada but lower than the Australian companies.

Australian companies generally treat their sewage to tertiary level. However, about 75% of Sydney Water's sewage is only treated to primary level. This is because the treated effluent is discharged at deepwater ocean outfalls where it is dispersed by the strong East Australian Current. This removes the need for shoreline tertiary treatment and disposal.

In Canada, all companies except Metro Vancouver treat sewage to secondary level. Approximately half of Metro Vancouver's sewage receives only primary treatment.

Table 13 puts the UK's performance against the EU Bathing Water Directive (BWD) in context. England and Wales have been high up the table for compliance in both freshwater and coastal bathing waters over the past five years. The large drop in compliance for Scotland between 2006 and 2007 was primarily a result of heavy rain. It should be noted that bathing water compliance does not depend solely on discharges from water companies' assets and is also affected by other sources of pollution such as agricultural diffuse pollution or contaminated urban run-off.

Detailed information on bathing water quality in Europe is available on the website of the European Environment Agency.

Environmental performance

Environmental performance - results for 2006-07

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