Sensitive areas

Sensitive areas are areas where, in order to achieve water quality objectives, a higher level of waste water treatment than secondary treatment in agglomerations with a total load of more than 10,000 p.e. (population equivalent) is required before the discharge of treated urban waste water into the water bodies of the sensitive area. More advanced treatment processes reduce the input primarily of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds into water bodies and, where appropriate, reduce the intake of other pollutants that would adversely affect the quality of the aquatic environment. Each sensitive area has an associated catchment area. All provisions applicable to the sensitive area concerned shall apply mutatis mutandis to the catchment of sensitive areas. The Danube RBD in Croatia has been identified as a catchment of a sensitive area located outside the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The corresponding sensitive area is the Danube Delta area when flowing to the Black Sea. Position data are presented in the Croatian Terrestrial Reference System 1996 Transvers Merkator projection (HTRS96/TM).