Recital 43

(43)Adequate monitoring is necessary to verify compliance with the new requirements of this Directive concerning micropollutants, non-domestic pollution, energy neutrality, storm water overflows and urban runoff. Monitoring should be supported, where technically feasible and appropriate, through the use of digital tools. In particular for the operational management of collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants, the use of digital tools should be systematically considered. To verify the compliance of the quaternary treatment concerning the reduction of micropollutants in urban wastewater discharges, it is sufficient to monitor a limited set of representative micropollutants. The monitoring frequencies should be built on the current best practices, as currently practised in Switzerland. To remain cost-effective, those obligations should be adapted to the size of the urban wastewater treatment plants and of the agglomerations. For the purposes of such monitoring, this Directive provides for sampling to be carried out. Each time sampling is carried out, a sample is taken both at the inlet and outlet of the urban wastewater treatment plant. The monitoring will also contribute to providing data for the overall Environmental Monitoring Framework as set up under the 8th Environmental Action Programme ²⁶ , and more specifically to feeding the Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook Framework underpinning it, set out in the Commission Communication of 12 May 2021 entitled ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”’.