The leakage of sewer systems and the impact on the 'black and odorous water bodies' and WWTPs in China.

China has achieved significant progress on wastewater treatment and aquatic environmental protection. However, leakage (in- and exfiltration) of sewer systems is still an issue. By using the statistical data of water and wastewater in 2016 in China, and the person loads (PLs) of water and wastewater in Singapore, the leakage fractions of hydraulic flow, organic carbon (COD), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) mass loading, and in-sewer COD biological removal in the sewer systems of China (except Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing were reported for the first time. The fractions of hydraulic flow infiltration (13%, Shanghai and Guangzhou) and exfiltration (39%, China) were calculated. Except Beijing, whose sewer networks are under appropriate management with small leakage fractions, the exfiltration fractions of COD (including in-sewer biological COD removal) ranged from 41% (Shanghai) to 66% (China) and averaged 55%; N ranged from 18% (Shanghai) to 48% (China) and averaged 33%; and P ranged from 23% (Shanghai and Guangzhou) to 44% (China) and averaged 30%. The exfiltrated sewage, COD, N and P not only wastes resources, but also contaminates the aquatic environment (especially groundwater) and contributes to 'black and odorous water bodies'. In- and exfiltration in the sewer network leads to low influent COD concentration, C/N ratio and high inorganic solids and inert particulate COD concentrations of many municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) causing high cost for nutrient removal, poor resource recovery, additional reactor/settler volume requirement and other operational problems. Therefore, tackling sewer leakage is of primary importance to today's environment in China. Recommendations for the inspection of sewer systems and the rehabilitation of damaged sewers as well as the development of design and operation guidelines of municipal WWTPs tailored to the specific local sewage characteristics and other conditions are proposed.

Cost comparison of wastewater treatment in Danubian countries.

This paper investigates the costs of wastewater treatment (including sludge management) within the Danube catchment countries A, CZ, SK, HU, SL, RO, BG and UA. TK is considered as well. Additionally, the paper compares the total costs of wastewater management (including sewage) with the incomes in the different countries. The annual costs of wastewater treatment in Austria are about 30 euro/p.e. y for large plants with nitrogen and phosphorus removal. In low income countries of the Danube and Black Sea catchment areas they are at a maximum 30% lower than in Austria. However, the incomes in countries like Bulgaria, Romania or Ukraine are 85% to 90% lower. The total annual costs for wastewater management (sewer development plus treatment) amount at least to 90 euro/p.e. y. Considering the level of income in those countries, financing of wastewater management completely by charges of the population equivalents connected is not feasible. Therefore other approaches for financing wastewater treatment are required.

Benchmarking of large municipal wastewater treatment plants treating over 100,000 PE in Austria.

During a six-year period the Austrian Benchmarking System was developed. The main objectives of this benchmarking system are the development of process indicators, identification of best performance and determination of cost reduction potentials. Since 2004 this system is operated via an internet platform and automated to a large extent. Every year twenty to thirty treatment plants use the web-based access to this benchmarking platform. The benchmarking procedure comprises data acquisition, data evaluation including reporting and organised exchange of experience for the treatment plant managers. The process benchmarking method links the real costs with four defined main processes and two support processes. For wastewater treatment plants with a design capacity >100,000 PE these processes are further split up into sub-processes. For each (sub-) process the operating costs are attributed to six cost elements. The specific total yearly costs and the yearly operating costs of all (sub-)processes are related to the measured mean yearly pollution load of the plant expressed in population equivalents (PE(110): 110 gCOD/d corresponding to 60 g BOD(5)/d)). The specific capital costs are related to the design capacity (PE). The paper shows the benchmarking results of 6 Austrian plants with a design capacity >100,000 PE representing approximately 30% of the Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant capacity.

Post-aeration of anaerobically digested sewage sludge for advanced COD and nitrogen removal: results and cost-benefit analysis at large-scale.

At a large Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant enhanced stabilisation of anaerobically digested sewage sludge was required in order to get a permit for landfill disposal of the dewatered stabilized sludge. By implementing a post-aeration treatment after anaerobic digestion the organic content of the anaerobically well digested sludge can be decreased by 16%. Investigations at this plant showed that during digested sludge post-aeration anoxic phases are needed to provide stable process conditions. In this way the pH value can be kept in a more favourable range for micro-organisms and concrete structures. Additionally, under the process conditions applied nitrite accumulation would inhibit the stabilisation process if denitrification is not adequately applied. By optimising the aeration/pause ratio approximately 45% of total nitrogen in digested sludge can be removed. NH4-removal occurs through nitrification and denitrification with an efficiency of 98%. This significantly improves nitrogen removal efficiency at the wastewater treatment plant. The costs/benefit analysis shows that post-aeration of digested sludge results in an increase of total annual costs for wastewater treatment of only 0.84%, corresponding to 0.19 Euro/pe/a. Specific costs for nitrogen removal (0.32 Euro/kgN) are comparable with other biological processes for N-removal in reject water.

Aeration of anaerobically digested sewage sludge for COD and nitrogen removal: optimization at large-scale.

The paper will report about the experiences at an Austrian large wastewater treatment plant of 720,000 population equivalents, where anaerobically digested sewage sludge is further stabilised under aerobic conditions. Enhanced stabilisation of the anaerobically digested sludge was required at the plant in order to get a permit for landfill disposal of the dewatered stabilized sludge. By implementing a post-aeration treatment (SRT approximately 6d; 36 degrees C) after anaerobic digestion the organic content of the anaerobically well digested sludge can be decreased by 16%. Investigations on site showed that during digested sludge post-aeration anoxic phases for denitrification are needed to provide stable process conditions. In this way the pH value can be kept in a more favourable range for micro-organisms and concrete structures. Additionally, inhibition of the biological process due to nitrite accumulation can be avoided. By optimising the aeration/pause ratio approximately 45% of total nitrogen in digested sludge can be removed. This significantly improves nitrogen removal efficiency at the wastewater treatment plant. NH(4)-removal occurs mainly through nitritation and denitritation with an efficiency of 98%. The costs/benefit analysis shows that post-aeration of digested sludge results in an increase of total annual costs for wastewater treatment of only 0.84%, corresponding to 0.19 Euro/pe/a. Result of molecular biological analyses (DGGE) indicate that all four ammonium-oxidizing bacteria species present in activated sludge can survive anaerobic digestion, but only two of them can adapt in the digested sludge post-aeration tanks. Additionally, in the post-aerated digested sludge a further ammonium-oxidizing bacteria species was identified.

The main wastewater treatment plant of Vienna: an example of cost effective wastewater treatment for large cities.

Two-stage activated sludge plants succeed in stable treatment efficiency concerning carbon removal and nitrification with far less reactor tank volume than conventional single stage systems. In case of large treatment plants this fact is of great economic relevance. Because of the very small specific volume of these two-stage treatment plants in comparison with low loaded single-stage plants, internal cycles have to be applied to ensure sufficient nitrogen removal. Due to these internal cycles two stage activated sludge plants offer many possibilities in terms of process management which results in new process optimisation procedures as compared to conventional single-stage nutrient removal treatment plants. The proposed extension concept for the Main Treatment Plant of Vienna was validated with pilot plant investigations especially with regard to nitrogen removal where it proved to comply with the legal requirements. The operation of the treatment plant can easily be adapted to changes in temperature and sludge volume index occurring in full scale practice. Sludge retention time and aerobic volume in the second stage are controlled in order to secure sufficient nitrification capacity and to optimise nitrogen removal by means of the variation of the loading conditions for the two stages. The investigations confirmed that the specific two-stage activated sludge concept applied in Vienna is an economically advantageous alternative for large wastewater treatment plants with stringent requirements for nitrification and nutrient removal.

Nutrient removal process development and full scale implementation at the 4 million p.e. main treatment plant of Vienna, Austria.

The Main Treatment Plant of Vienna is in extension for 4 million p.e. and very stringent nutrient removal requirements. The existing high rate BOD removal activated sludge plant (in operation since 1980) is extended by a second stage activated sludge plant and a newly developed flow scheme for nitrogen removal optimisation adaptable to the temperature variations over the year. For this plant pilot investigations have been performed for the development of a specific mathematical model (ASMV) and a specific aeration control strategy. The civil work of the extension is already finished and the installation of the equipment has started. Operation should start in 2004. The whole project will cost about [see symbol in text]264 million of which about one half is for civil work. The effluent standards correspond to the requirements for sensitive areas in EU Directive for Municipal Waste Water. The raw primary and excess sludge are incinerated after thickening and dewatering. This paper tries to condense the already existing literature with the construction progress and the cost situation.

Benchmarking of municipal waste water treatment plants (an Austrian project).

An Austrian research project focused on the development of process indicators for treatment plants with different process and operation modes. The whole treatment scheme was subdivided into four processes, i.e. mechanical pretreatment (Process 1), mechanical-biological waste water treatment (Process 2), sludge thickening and stabilisation (Process 3) and further sludge treatment and disposal (Process 4). In order to get comparable process indicators it was necessary to subdivide the sample of 76 individual treatment plants all over Austria into five groups according to their mean organic load (COD) in the influent. The specific total yearly costs, the yearly operating costs and the yearly capital costs of the four processes have been related to the yearly average of the measured organic load expressed in COD (110 g COD/pe/d). The specific investment costs for the whole treatment plant and for Process 2 have been related to a calculated standard design capacity of the mechanical-biological part of the treatment plant expressed in COD. The capital costs of processes 1, 3 and 4 have been related to the design capacity of the treatment plant. For each group (related to the size of the plant) a benchmark band has been defined for the total yearly costs, the total yearly operational costs and the total yearly capital costs. For the operational costs of the Processes 1 to 4 one benchmark ([see symbol in text] per pe/year) has been defined for each group. In addition a theoretical cost reduction potential has been calculated. The cost efficiency in regard to water protection and some special sub-processes such as aeration and sludge dewatering has been analysed.

Relevance of the sludge retention time (SRT) as design criteria for wastewater treatment plants for the removal of endocrine disruptors and pharmaceuticals from wastewater.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represent a significant source for the input of micro pollutants as endocrine disruptors (EDs) or pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) into the aquatic environment. Treatment efficiency of WWTPs often is reported, taking into account only inflow and effluent concentrations without further specification of the WWTP investigated. In order to allow comparison and evaluation of the removal efficiency of different layouts and concepts in wastewater treatment, additional information like the sludge retention time (SRT) and sludge load (F/M ratio) are necessary. Presented results from different WWTPs show correlation of removal of EDs and PhACs to the SRT. Compared to WWTPs with high F/M ratio implementation of the nitrification process on WWTPs results in a significant increase of the removal efficiency for EDs and PhACs. This paper describes an approach to determine comparable removal rates for different activated sludge systems based on mass balance and SRT.

What is the potential for utilizing the resources in sludge?

The successful strategy for water protection by biological wastewater treatment results in a sludge production of about 20 to 40 kg dry matter per population equivalent and year. In the context of regional material fluxes, sewage sludge has a low resource potential and a low pollution potential despite the fact that it can be characterised as a sink, concentrating wastewater compounds. The mass flow of nutrients (N, P) in the sewage sludge is comparatively small as compared to the losses of nutrients in agriculture. The most valuable element in the sludge is phosphorus, as the availability of phosphorus for the production of low-cost mineral fertiliser is limited. The most economical means of P-recycling is agricultural sludge application, which can also be seen as the option with the lowest loss of all valuable compounds of the sludge, and the lowest increase of entropy. The reliability of this disposal route for the treatment plant operator depends on several major pre-requisites: * reliability in regard to hygiene * reliability in regard to long-term soil protection public acceptance (politicians, media) * acceptance by all parties involved in sludge application and its consequences (farmers, farmer unions, land owners, food industry, food trade, retailers, consumers, consumer associations, NGOs, etc.) Only the first two prerequisites can be based on scientific research and risk assessment. As a consequence, only for these two aspects can quality criteria and adequate procedures be developed and introduced into a legal framework and quality assurance procedures. The latter two pre-requisites must be addressed in terms of sociology, psychology and political science and have a strong educational aspect.