The tightening of the removal requirements in the new Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive is unlikely to have a decisive effect on the nutrient inputs, since most wastewater treatment in the total Baltic Sea drainage basin has improved to the proposed requirements in recent decades. The actions on stormwater overflows and urban runoff could, however, be of importance. Further reductions on nutrient inputs from wastewater could be achieved through measures beyond the directive, such as regulations on private sewages in scattered dwellings and mandatory tertiary treatment of both nitrogen and phosphorus in the whole drainage basin.