HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 7/4

Adopted 11 February 1986, having regard to Article 13, Paragraph b) of the Helsinki Convention

RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING MEASURES AIMED AT THE REDUCTION OF DISCHARGES FROM URBAN AREAS BY THE PRETREATMENT OF PARTS OF WASTEWATER ORIGINATING FROM INDUSTRIAL PLANTS

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING Paragraph I of Article 6 of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1974, (Helsinki Convention), in which the Contracting Parties undertake to take all appropriate measures to control and minimize land-based pollution of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area,

RECALLING ALSO that Annex II of the Helsinki Convention defines a list of harmful substances for the purpose of Article 6 of the Convention,

RECOGNIZING that heavy metals and other harmful substances originating from industrial plants cannot be sufficiently reduced in central treatment plants,

DESIRING to limit this pollution,

RECOMMENDS to the Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention that:

a) those parts of urban wastewater which are of industrial origin and contain heavy metals or other harmful substances which cannot be reduced in a central treatment plant to an environmentally acceptable level, should be pretreated on the spot of their formation, i.e. before entering the sewerage system;

b) pretreatment guidelines for permissible levels of pollutants be developed on a national basis,

RECOMMENDS FURTHER that the actions taken by the Contracting Parties should be reported to the Commission one year after the adoption of this Recommendation and thereafter every 5 years.