LEGAL REGULATION OF WASTEWATER DISPOSAL A ND TREATMENT IN LITHUANIA

1. LEGAL REGULATION OF WASTEWATER DISPOSAL AND TREATMENT IN LITHUANIA Lithuanian Water Suppliers Association 2016

2. Environmental Protection • The most important objective of the Environmental Protection Law - Lithuanian citizens' right to a healthy and safe environment, harmonious society and natural interaction development. Article 1 of the Environmental Protection Law. The object of environmental protection within the area of the Republic of Lithuania is the environment (subterranean part of the earth, air, water, soil, etc.) and natural resources.

3. Environmental Protection • Lithuanian environmental protection strategy indicates that the protection of water quality is the highest priority of environmental protection in Lithuania, as well as the highest priority for investments. • In order to achieve the water protection objectives, a legal regulation of wastewater collection, treatment and discharge into the environment was created.

4. Water protection Article 16 of the Law on Water indicates that wastewater must be collected and treated using the best available technologies. It also indicates that wastewater must be disposed based on the lowest environmental impact. According to the law, it is prohibited to discharge wastewater directly into underground water bodies.

5. Water protection Article 30 of the Law on Water. • The government is obliged to submit reports to the European Commission on the implementation of water protection legal acts. • Municipal authorities are under an obligation to prepare water supply development and water extraction site protection plans, to analyse the condition of water protection and quality, to provide public annual reports about this condition and inform the community.

6. Environmental protectionNational Environmental Protection Management System Article 6 of the Environmental Protection Law. Environmental protection management in municipalities is carried out by local authority institutions in accordance with the procedures established by the laws. • When organizing the implementation of environmental protection laws and normative acts on environmental protection issues adopted by the Government and the Ministry of Environment, the local authority institutions: 1) manage, use and protect natural resources and environmental protection objects assigned to them; 2) prepare, approve and implement municipal environmental protection and natural resource use programmes, schemes and other environmental protection measures; 3) based on their competence, examine and coordinate projects of the planned activity objects; 4) establish stricter than the national standards within their area, by coordinating them with the public institutions that approved them; 5) based on their competence, adopt decisions and control their implementation;

7. Environmental Protection • The dominant principle, which is the basis of the legal regulation of water protection both in the European Union and in Lithuania, is that the "polluter pays". Article 32 of the Environmental Protection Law. Users of natural resources and persons carrying out economic activities must take all necessary measures to avoid causing damage to the environment, human health and life, as well as the property and interests of other persons. Those who caused damages must, if possible, restore the condition of the environment to its initial state that occurred prior to the damages, and compensate all the losses. This principle is established in the National Environmental Protection Strategy,the Law on Drinking Water Supply and Wastewater Management, and in other legal acts.

8. Wastewater management requirements "Wastewater Management Regulation" approved by the order of the Minister of Environment Paragraph 2. The provisions of this Regulation are applied to all natural persons and legal entities who discharge wastewater into the natural environment or into wastewater management systems belonging to other persons. They also apply to institutions that issue conditions for the design on objects related to wastewater discharge, institutions that issue permits for wastewater discharge, institutions evaluating the effect of discharged or planned to be discharged wastewater to the environment, and institutions otherwise regulating the discharge of wastewater. Paragraph 14. Water users or subscribers who discharge wastewater containing hazardous substances into the natural environment or into a sewer system must follow the requirements (MAC-maximum allowable concentrations) established in the annexes of this Regulation in order to discharge these substances.

9. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness • System of institutions carrying out water protection control; • Pollution monitoring; • Water protection measures in the area planning process; • Pollution prevention and control system; • Economic water protection measures.

10. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness1. Institutions carrying out water protection control Article 6 of the Law on Environmental Protection State Control. • Environmental protection state control is carried out by the State Environmental Protection Service, regional environmental protection departments, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Lithuanian Geological Survey.Code of Administrative Offences Article 512. Persons executing actions without an integrated pollution prevention and control permit or without following the requirements established in the conditions of this permit shall incur a fine: citizens- 144-289 € ; officers- 289-579 €; managers – 434-868 €. Article 516. • Persons discharging wastewater into the environment without a permit, or discharging wastewater into drainage systems will incur a fine: citizens - 115-579 €; officers – 289-1440 €. • Persons discharging wastewater into the environment by exceeding the discharged wastewater limits established in the permit, or violating other wastewater discharge conditions established in the permit will incur a fine: citizens – 57-289 €; officers – 173-1158 €.

11. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness2. Pollution monitoring Environmental Monitoring Law Article 4. The environmental monitoring system is comprised of state, municipal and economic operator environmental monitoring, during which information about the condition of natural environment elements (air, water, subterranean part of the earth, etc.) and their changes on a national, municipal and local level is collected and analysed.

12. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness2.Pollution monitoring "Environmental monitoring regulations for economic operators" approved by the order of the Minister of Environment • Economic operators managing wastewater under IPPC or Pollution permits must carry out: • The monitoring of pollution discharged by pollution sources; • The monitoring of the impact on surface waters (those who carry out the treatment of wastewater in agglomerations since 2000GE). • The aim of the monitoring of pollution discharges is to assess whether the pollution amounts discharged from pollution sources do not exceed the established limits and/or standards. • The aim of the monitoring of the impact on environmental quality (effects on the environment) is to monitor, assess and foresee the effects of economic activities on the quality of the natural environment.

13. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness3. Water protection measures in the area planning process • In order to avoid water pollution in the future, it is very important to assess the water protection requirements in the area planning process. Article 3of the Law on the assessment of the environmental impact of planned economic activity. The assessment object of the impact on the environment is planned economic activity which can have a significant impact on the environment due to the specificity of its nature, extent and foreseen location.

14. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness3. Water protection measures in the area planning process Law on the assessment of the environmental impact of planned economic activity Assessment of the environmental impact is carried out when: 1) the planned economic activity is classified as Planned economic activity whose environmental impact must be assessed according to the established list of types; 2) during the selection, it is determined that an environmental impact assessment must be carried out for the planned economic activity; 3) implementation of the planned economic activity may impact the European ecological network "Nature 2000" areas, and an institution responsible for the organization of the protection and management of protected areas must determine if this impact could be significant, according to the procedures established by the Ministry of Environment.

15. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness4.Pollution prevention and control system Article 16 of the Environmental Protection Law. Designing economic activities which are likely to have an effect on the environment • Territorial organisation and state environmental management control of economic activities which are likely to have an effect on the environment are carried out in accordance with the documents of general and special territorial planning. • Persons designing the construction, reconstruction or expansion of objects which are likely to have an effect on the environment, or preparing projects of general and special territorial planning, must provide in the project documentation the measures for rational use of natural resources and for avoiding negative effects on the environment. • Project documentation in accordance with the established manner shall be coordinated with local authority institutions and the Ministry of Environment.

16. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness 4. Pollution prevention and control system Article 19 of the Environmental Protection Law. Operation of economic facilities • Prior to starting operation of objects of economic activities and when carrying out their economic activities, legal and natural persons must, in accordance with the procedures and in cases established by the laws, obtain a permit. • Legal and natural persons must operate their economic facilities under the conditions established in the permit and must not exceed environmental protection norms and standards. • While operating economic facilities which are potentially hazardous to the environment, legal and natural persons must, at their own expense, monitor the degree of environmental pollution and its impact on the environment, ensure public availability of the information and provide conditions for pollution control.

17. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness4.Pollution prevention and control system Article 19 of the Environmental Protection Law. Operation of economic facilities • Legal and natural persons operating economic facilities must, in accordance with the established procedures, keep records of their use of natural resources and discharged pollutants. • Legal and natural persons operating economic facilities or carrying out economic activities which do not require a permit must follow the environmental protection norms and standards established for such facilities and activities.

18. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness4.Pollution prevention and control system • In order to reduce the negative effect of industrial activities on the environment and avoid pollution transfer from one environmental component to another, a pollution prevention and control system was established in Lithuania. Issued permits: • Pollution; • Integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) was valid until March of 2014;

19. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness 4. Pollution prevention and control system "Rules for the issue, change and termination of validity of pollution permits" approved by the order of the Minister of Environment Pollution permit for the discharge of wastewater into the environment is necessary when the discharged wastewatermeets the criteria of paragraph 1 of annex 1 of the rules.

20. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness 4. Pollution prevention and control system • When implementing the "polluter pays" principle, the State Price and Energy Control Commission adopted the "Description of procedure for the calculation of wastewater treatment price for increased and specific pollution". The wastewater treatment service price for increased and specific wastewater pollution is raised according to the procedures established in the Description of Procedure.

21. Measures increasing water protection effectiveness 5. Economic water protection measures • Taxes for environmental pollution are measures encouraging polluters to decrease pollution, carry out waste prevention and management, not exceed the established norms for the discharge of pollutants into the environment, and to accumulate funds for the implementation of environmental protection measures. Article 4 of the Law on Environmental Pollution Tax. • Taxes for environmental pollution from stationary pollution sources are paid by legal and natural persons polluting the environment, who, according to the procedures established by the Government or its authorised institutions, are required to have an integrated prevention and control permit or a pollution permit which specify the standards for the discharge of pollutants into the environment.

22. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Criteria of paragraph 1 of annex 1 of the Rules: Criteria of paragraph 1 of annex 1 of the Rules: 1.1. 5 m3 per day and more household, industrial, etc. (excluding surface) wastewater (calculated by dividing the amount of wastewater discharged or planned to be discharged per year from the number of discharge days) is discharged (planned to be discharged) into the natural environment (surface water bodies, filtering equipment, fertilizing fields, etc.); 1.2. surface wastewater is discharged or planned to be discharged into the environment, when such wastewater is collected from potentially polluted areas whose surface wastewater collection area is larger than 1 ha (excluding parking sites); 1.3. surface wastewater is discharged into the environment, when such wastewater is collected from 10 ha or larger areas designed for autotransport (streets, access roads, parking sites), and (or) when wastewater from potentially polluted areas whose total surface wastewater collection area is larger than 1 ha enters the general surface wastewater management system; 1.4. wastewater is discharged into the environment, when, regardless of the wastewater amount/discharge, the concentration of priority substances in such wastewater is equal to or larger than the value indicated in part A "Concentration limit in the natural environment" of annex 2 of the Wastewater Management Regulation approved by order No. D1-236 of the Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania of 17 May 2006, and (or) when such wastewater contains priority hazardous substances (regardless of the amount of the discharged priority hazardous substances); 1.5. wastewater is discharged from a waste incinerator or a general waste incinerator, accumulating from the treatment of exhaust gases; 1.6. 5 m3 per day and more water (calculated by dividing the amount of water discharged or planned to be discharged per year from the number of discharge days) is discharged (planned to be discharged) into surface water bodies from fishing ponds. .1. 5 m3 per day and more household, industrial, etc. (excluding surface) wastewater (calculated by dividing the amount of wastewater discharged or planned to be discharged per year from the number of discharge days) is discharged (planned to be discharged) into the natural environment (surface water bodies, filtering equipment, fertilizing fields, etc.); 1.2. surface wastewater is discharged or planned to be discharged into the environment, when such wastewater is collected from potentially polluted areas whose surface wastewater collection area is larger than 1 ha (excluding parking sites); 1.3. surface wastewater is discharged into the environment, when such wastewater is collected from 10 ha or larger areas designed for autotransport (streets, access roads, parking sites), and (or) when wastewater from potentially polluted areas whose total surface wastewater collection area is larger than 1 ha enters the general surface wastewater management system; 1.4. wastewater is discharged into the environment, when, regardless of the wastewater amount/discharge, the concentration of priority substances in such wastewater is equal to or larger than the value indicated in part A "Concentration limit in the natural environment" of annex 2 of the Wastewater Management Regulation approved by order No. D1-236 of the Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania of 17 May 2006, and (or) when such wastewater contains priority hazardous substances (regardless of the amount of the discharged priority hazardous substances); 1.5. wastewater is discharged from a waste incinerator or a general waste incinerator, accumulating from the treatment of exhaust gases; 1.6. 5 m3 per day and more water (calculated by dividing the amount of water discharged or planned to be discharged per year from the number of discharge days) is discharged (planned to be discharged) into surface water bodies from fishing ponds.