An inspection last year revealed that 50 of 55 inspected Norwegian municipalities in nine counties violated environmental regulations. In 17 of the cases, serious violations were discovered.
In 2021, the County Governor carried out a nationwide inspection of municipal sewage systems.
Many municipalities have systems that are not in accordance with the regulations, section leader Henning Gøhtesen in the Norwegian Environment Agency noted in a press release.
“If sewage systems are not maintained or expanded in line with the area development in the municipality, it can lead to extensive discharges of untreated or poorly treated wastewater,” Gøhtesen warned.
Serious regulatory breaches
The inspection mainly covered municipalities that have not been supervised when it comes to wastewater in recent years. In 17 municipalities, the County Governor considered the regulatory breaches to be serious.
The inspection revealed that 75% of the inspected municipalities have not assessed the environmental risk well enough and that almost half of the municipalities do not have an overview of the total discharges from the sewage system. As many as 70% of the municipalities do not have good enough control over the discharges from the treatment plants.
“We expect the municipalities to address the violations of the regulations that were uncovered during this inspection and ensure that the environmental regulations are followed,” Gøhtesen noted.
The County Governor will follow up with the municipalities with new inspections.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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