The European Commission (ec) recently decided to take legal action against the uk, which for three years has repeatedly breached a European Union (eu) law that forbids the discharge of raw sewage into the sea and river.
ec has issued a final warning to the uk, failing which it will challenge the country in the European Court of Justice. ec claims the uk was is in breach of eu's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The problems were inadequate treatment and collection facilities in London and three other urban areas that regularly released untreated sewage into rivers and seas. This happened when their water treatment facilities overflowed, which happened more than 80 times each year in some cases. The inadequate water treatment facilities affected water quality, the survival of fishes and the ecosystem and also posed a risk to human health.
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