Article 1
This Directive lays down rules on the collection, treatment and discharge of urban wastewater, to protect the environment and human health, in line with the One Health approach, while progressively reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to sustainable levels, improving the energy balance of urban wastewater collection and treatment activities and contributing to the transition towards a circular economy. It also lays down rules on access to sanitation for all, on transparency of the urban wastewater sector, on the regular surveillance of relevant public health parameters in urban wastewater and on the implementation of the polluter-pays principle.