A WINCHESTER waste water treatment centre has failed to meet European Union guidelines since they were introduced more than 15 years ago.

The European Commission has announced it is referring the UK to the European Court of Justice after it was found that 17 areas fail to comply with waste water treatment directives.

Winchester's Morestead works features on the list, despite a £9 million redevelopment completed in January 2014.

The plant serves more than 36,000 people and is considered 'sensitive', due to its location near the River Itchen.

The EC is unhappy about how the works is not adequately removing phosphate chemicals.

The commission said: “Member states need adequate collection and treatment systems for urban waste water, as untreated water poses risks to human health, inland waters and the marine environment.”

When contacted by the Chronicle, the European Commission spokesman added: “When we refer member states for not complying it means that the European Court of Justice will decide if the UK is breaching the law.

“They can have judgement to force the UK to comply. Then if they are not complying they can be fined. We hope not to get to that stage and that the UK can comply.

“We hope that some effective measures will be applied by the UK government to ensure that in those areas the waste water will be collected appropriately, but it is up to the UK government to put in place treatments which allow the standards which are required.”

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Cllr Kelsie Learney, Liberal Democrat group leader at Winchester City Council, raised the issue at Council. She told the Chronicle: “This obviously raises concerns about the adequacy of water treatment at a time when we are planning to build thousands of new homes in Winchester and relying on Southern Water assurances that they can deal with that level of development.”

A spokesman for Defra, which is responsible for enforcing the legislation, said: “Overall the UK has good compliance with the directive and water companies have committed around £13.5 billion to make the necessary improvements to get all treatment plants up to the EU standards.”

The Urban Waste Water Directive dates back to 1991 and member states were given until the end of 2000 to ensure it was in place.

A Southern Water spokesman said: “When the River Itchen was designated as a 'sensitive area' under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, it was not deemed necessary to introduce a further level of treatment, in the form of phosphate removal, at our Morestead Road treatment works.

“However, the European Commission subsequently confirmed a requirement for this level of treatment, which was implemented by Southern Water on December 22 2013.

“We are now working with the Environment Agency to provide sample data from December 22 2013 to date to demonstrate that the plant is fully compliant with the directive.”