Conflict between EU water law and sewerage for new housing development

Friends of the Earth has won a partial legal victory in the Northern Ireland High Court during a long dispute over the adequacy of sewerage treatment systems to meet the European Community wastewater treatment standards. The court held that in allowing new housing to be connected to a sewer, the government agency failed to consider whether the treatment system complied with EU standards. But it refused to hold that the connections to non-compliant sewerage networks were illegal.