France in European court on waste water charges

The European Commission is taking action against France for not keeping to rules relating to waste water.

About 60 major cities and towns, including Lyon and Bordeaux, do not have water treatment that adheres to European Union directives.

The action follows a first warning made to the country in 2004.

France is also one of five countries receiving a first warning about its waste water treatment in smaller towns.

The other four are Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Germany.

Infrastructure to deal with waste water for areas with 2,000 to 15,000 people in them should have been complying with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive since the end of 2005.

According to data from the US Bureau of the Census, France's population is estimated to be 64,057,792 as of July this year.

In 2003, the figure was 60,180,529.

The statistic for this year is the same as it was for 2008.

Posted by Claire Manning