In 2015, UN member states adoptedthe 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment and itsSustainable Development Goalsand implementation principles,which represent the vision forthe world that we should strive tobecome by 2030. These 17 goalswith 169 targets cover a wide arrayof sectoral policies. Local andregional governments played animportant role in influencing thedefinition of the SDGs, successfullycampaigning for a stand-alonegoal on Sustainable Cities and HumanSettlements (SDG 11), and forinternational recognition of thepivotal role of local and regionalgovernment in sustainable development.As the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals of the 2030 Agenda must beachieved at global, national andsubnational levels, the success ofthis ambitious agenda is dependenton the active involvementof every level of government andof a large variety of stakeholders.Multi-level approaches and multi-stakeholder-partnerships thereforewill be the key factors formaking our common world visionattainable by 2030. The global developmentagenda cannot be confinedto the competence of centralgovernment alone. The frameworkof the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals with its universal definitionof goals and targets has tobe adapted to concrete situationsand specific needs to create actualbenefits for concrete people andtheir living conditions.This process of taking into accountsubnational contexts in theachievement of the 2030 Agenda,is what we understand by “Localizingthe SDGs”. Localization relatesboth to how the SDGs can providea framework for local develop-Foreword5ment policy and to how local andregional governments can supportthe achievement of the SDGsthrough action from the bottomup. We at the Regional Project “SocialRights for Vulnerable Groups”are committed to work with ourpartner municipalities in supportingthem so that the most vulnerablepeople’s living conditionscan be improved. We are convincedthat our partner municipalitiesare the administrative level closestto the local communities and canmake a meaningful difference intheir lives, in a timely manner andflexibly reacting to emerging andfast changing needs.In this respect the capacities ofmunicipal structures to implementthe 2030 Agenda and monitorthe achievement of SDGs onlocal level and the involvementof public, private and civil societyactors are crucial. This Handbookhas been designed to serve exactlythis purpose. To help practitionersat municipal level in improvingtheir knowledge and strengtheningtheir understanding of the relevanceof the 2030 agenda and theSDGs at local level, to raise theircapacities to become promoters ofthe SDGs and to be able to sensitizeother stakeholders.

This review of wastewater management in Danube region under EU water policies shows that, despite several challenges, the UWWTD has indeed delivered results for the people and environment in Danube region. The share of wastewater treated according to the UWWTD requirements is showing a major improvement since 2004, demonstrating impact of massive investment efforts undertaken, and resulting in significant emission reduction in the recent past. This has resulted in a noticeable water quality improvement over the last 20 years for both organic pollutants and nutrients. At the same time, the review points out to several challenges. Implementation capacity is often neglected and insufficiently prepared. The necessary tariff increases, a consequence of investment in new infrastructure and related O&M cost increases, trigger affordability issues for the bottom 40 percent of population. A lack of the necessary sectoral institutional reforms, has resulted in lower than planned absorption of available funds and delays in UWWTD compliance. These challenges also represent opportunities in the implementation of the current Directive within and beyond the Member States, and its potential review. The current implementation of the Directive could be made more efficient using sound economic appraisal to prioritize investments according to their cost-effectiveness while maintaining public health and environmental benefits and achievement of WFD objectives. 

Under the activity analytical and advisory work of the World Bank / IAWD Danube Water Program, the Umweltbundesamt (Environment Agency Austria) was entrusted in March 2017 with the execution of this study. It aims to assess the results of UWWTD implementation in the Danube Region, taking into account environmental, economic, sustainability and affordability aspects, in order to derive key conclusions and recommendations. Target countries were the following eight EU Member Countries of the Danube: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The specific objective of this study was to assess the key challenges and actions that countries in the Danube basin can use for wastewater management. This document includes the annexes to the main report, which is uploaded separately.