Wastewater treatment in European Union’s countries – economy of access, determinants, legislation and implications in urban areas [articol]

Abstract

The primary purpose of the paper is to present the regulatory framework of wastewater treatment and the cooperation between EU and OECD inside the European Union Water Initiative. We also perform an empirical analysis of wastewater treatment determinants in a set of 28 OECD countries, using annual data for the period 2000 to 2017. The panel data analysis reveals that the access to wastewater treatment services is positively influenced by the level of revenue per capita and by the R&D expenditure. At the same time, the energy prices negatively affect the access to wastewater treatment services. The EU membership has no significant impact on the services access rate.