European trends in the water & wastewater t reatment industry The internationalisation of environmental policy and the integration of environmental protection measures are the two trends with which the environmental protection sector is entering the new millennium. Within the European Community the directives of the European Commission are increasingly having a determining influence on the environmental regulations of Member States and consequently on technical requirements.

S ince May 1999, when the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force, it has been official:

the principle of sustainable development is one of the funda- mental tasks of the European Community. The concrete aim of the treaty is the creation of pre-requisites and conditions so that long- term economic development is in accordance with environmental requirements. It is essential that the developmental possibilities of future generations must not be endangered.

For the time being, this is the main highlight of environmental policy endeavours within the EU. This path to success has been evened out from 1972 onwards by five successive environmental action programmes, within the framework of which the Community has passed almost 200 legal instruments. These legal instruments basically concern the containment of en- vironmental damage through the introduction of minimum standards, above all in the fields of waste disposal and the prevention of water and air pollution.

In the course of this development the EU has gained more and more influence over the national environmental policies of the Member States, as all Community directives and ordinances have to be incorporated into the respec- tive national legislation of the EU Member States.

This means that Brussels determines the political, economic and technical trends and subjects which the European environmental sector has to deal with.

Only t r e a t e d w a s t e m a y be d u m p e d

A current example of the orientation of the EU waste policy is given by the Directive 1999131/EG of the Council of 26 th April 1999 relating to waste disposal sites. This is referred to in short as the waste disposal site directive. The aim of this directive, which must be incorporated into the national law of each Member State by mid-July 2001, is the reduction or avoidance of the negative effects of dumping waste on the environment, in particular, the pollution of surface waters, groundwater, the earth and air as well as risks to human health. Accordingly the waste is classified in accordance with its composition into the following categories: dangerous waste, household waste, harmless waste of other origin and inert waste. Similarly, three classes of waste disposal sites have been created which have to be technically designed in such a manner that they can accept and process the dangerous, harmless or inert waste without any danger to the environment. Now only treated waste may be dumped.

In principle, this regulation has applied within the Federal Republic of Germany since mid-1993, when the Technical Guidance on Household Waste directive came into force. This has a transitional period up to 2005. By this date, at the latest, no house- hold waste which has not been subjected to prior treatment may be dumped on the so-called "standard waste disposal sites" ensuring that it subsequently corresponds to the classification criteria of Appendix D of the directive. These criteria are so

strict that to date only thermal procedures for the treatment of waste have been able to comply with these figures. This applies in particular to the criteria for loss on ignition (maximum value 5%) and TOC (Total Organic Carbon, maximum value 3%).

However, the German Ministry for Environment is currently working on an amendment to the Technical Guidance directive on Household Waste, which will not only aid its adjustment to the EC waste disposal site directive, it will also contain regulations which will enable waste to be treated by mechanical/biological plants before it is dumped.

The condition is that the treatment must result in the quality of the residual material being of the "same standard" as is demanded of the thermal procedures. What the new criteria and technical demands for such plants and those for the pre-treatment of waste will look like in detail is still being intensely reviewed. However, they will defin- itely be considerably higher than those in force at present and will consequently pose a challenge to the resourcefulness of engineers.

The future should also prove to be exciting for the suppliers and operators of waste incineration plants. Since mid-1999, a directive proposal regarding the combustion of waste has been under consideration in Brussels. This proposal anticipates the integration of the directive on the combustion of dangerous waste which has been effective since 1994. In addition, the provisions of the new

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directive should also apply to plants for the co-incineration of waste (e.g. cement plants).

The proposal foresees that not only will waste incineration plants require official authorisation but also waste co-incineration plants. They must comply with certain regulations concerning the acceptance of waste. Minimum operating conditions of the plants are also laid down. For example, the combustion gas in co-incineration plants must maintain a temperature of at least 850°C for a period of at least two seconds. Furthermore, all plants in Europe must at least comply with the same emission limits. These, however, are practically identical to the limits which the 17 th Federal Pollution

Control Act has prescribed for many years within the Federal Republic of Germany. This applies, in particular, to the emissions of dioxin/furane which, since 1990, may not exceed 0.1 ng/m 3 TE (ng = nanogram = one

thousand millionth gram; TE = toxic equivalent).

Even m o r e e f f i c i e n t recyc l ing o f w a s t e

Rationalisation and automation are the keywords which characterise the current trends in the collection of recyclable materials and in recycling. Waste and recyclable materials collection vehicles are becoming safer, more manoeuvrable, user- friendly and above all, more efficient. They can now be operated by a single disposal specialist.

However, the most significant demand will be for low-exhaust gas "whispering" vehicles - for refuse collection and also for street cleaning - which can also be deployed during the late hours of the evening and night without infringing noise protection regulations. This is a further step towards enabling these special vehicles, which definitely do not come cheaply, to be deployed more economically.

The recyclable materials which are collected within the framework of the

German Duales System (Green Dot)

are today mostly separated and sorted by hand along a conveyor belt, at the most supported by sieves and air sifters for the separation of foreign matter and lightweight fractions (e.g. paper and plastic bags) prior to the manual sorters. However, this manual work will soon stop if everything proceeds according to the plans of the "Duales System Deutschland AG (Cologne)".

Together with the University of Aachen, the company which organ- ises the collection of "green dot" packaging within the Federal Repub- lic of Germany has developed a fully automatic separation and reprocessing plant for packaging waste. Called Sortec 3.0, this plant unifies the tried and tested technologies of dry mech- anical pre-separation (air sifting, mag- netic separation, close-range infra- redspectroscopy), wet-mechanical reprocessing (pulper) and plastics re- processing (extruder) and combines these technologies. The result is pure types of fractions which cannot only be utilised as recyclable mat- erials but also as raw materials. The first plant, which is located in Hanover-Anderten and which has an annual throughput rate of 25 000 tonnes, has just been put into operation.

W a s t e w a t e r - - in a s t a t e o f f l u x

As far as the treatment of wastewater is concerned the EU Member Countries still have plenty to do. This is the concise conclusion of the special report of the EU Commission regarding the implementation of the most important EU directives in the sector of the prevention of water pollution. These are the directives on the treatment of municipal waste water (1991), the nitrate directive on the protection of waters from pollution from agricultural sources (1991) as well as the sewage sludge directive (1986).

For example the aim of the municipal wastewater directive is to connect practically all municipalities with more than 2000 inhabitants to sewage and water purification plants by the year 2005. According to the report of 1998 this means that almost 40 000 wastewater purification plants will have to be constructed or restored throughout the whole of Europe, whereby the biological treatment of waste water is obligatory. In addition, a more comprehensive purification level for the extraction of nitrogen and phosphor is prescribed for

Entsorga, the International Waste

Fair in Cologne, 26-29 July, has added

water supply technology to its

programme.

www.worLdpumps.com WORLD P U M P S July 2000

America's water and wastewater systems face monumental funding needs

The nation's 54 000 drinking water systems and 16 000 wastewater systems face staggering infrastructure funding needs of nearly $1 trillion over the next 20 years and shortfall of a half of a trillion dollars, according to Clean and Safe Water for the 21st Century - a report released by the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN).

Although America's drinking water and wastewater systems spend $23 billion per year for infrastructure, they face an annual shortfall of another $23 billion to replace ageing facilities and comply with existing and future federal water regulations, the report says.

WIN is calling on the federal government to make investment in the US drinking water and wastewater infrastructure a national priority. Failure to meet the clean and safe water investment needs of the next 20 years risks reversing the public health, economic, and environmental gains of the last three decades, the report notes. "Imagine a day when community water systems are unable to treat drinking water to remove harmful chemical and microbial contaminants that cause disease, or when wastewater treatment plants are unable to prevent billions of tonnes of waste from entering rivers, lakes, and estuaries."

"The benefits of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to the nation's well-being cannot be overstated," says WIN. "Yet local governments and ratepayers must fund 90% of clean and safe water infrastructure costs while grappling with competing needs to educate children, maintain roads and transportation systems, fight crime, and provide social services. The federal government should not make communities choose between providing safe and clean water and finding other necessary community programmes. Nor should families be forced to pay unaffordable water rates. Better solutions are needed."

Without a significantly enhanced federal role in providing assistance to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, critical investments will not occur, the report notes. According to WIN, there are a number of possible solutions. These include grants, trust funds, loans, and incentives for private investment. "So, the question is not whether the federal government should take more responsibility for drinking water and wastewater improvements," says WIN, "but how."

The Water Infrastructure Network is comprised of drinking water and wastewater associations; local elected officials; state organizations; environmental organizations; and associations representing engineers, contractors, fab- ricators, and water and wastewater equipment manu- facturers - all dedicated to preserving and protecting the hard-won public health, environmental and economic gains provided by America's drinking water and waste- water infrastructure. •

sensitive regions. The realisation of this programme will require several hundred thousand million Euro.

Within the EU, about 76% of the population is connected to sewage and water purification plants. The figures, nevertheless, show a considerable spread. In Greece only a little over 10% of the population is connected to sewage and water purification plants whereas in Denmark practically the whole population (98%) is connected. There are more than 10 000 sewage plants in Germany which treat the wastewater of more than 90% of the population, almost 4000 of which operate with selective nutrient elimination (nitrogen and phosphor). However, there is still a considerable need for further work to be done within Germany, in particular in the new federal states where only between 60% and 70% of the population are connected to sewage plants.

In view of the enormous demand for investment and the shortage of public funds, it comes as no surprise that the public disposal service providers are increasingly on the lookout for private enterprise solutions. In the meantime, private enterprises provide disposal services for about 10% of the population. Through Europe-wide invitations to tender the interested private disposal companies are mostly only instructed to comply with the legally prescribed limiting values and obliged to ensure that the rates and charges do not exceed a certain limit. Which technologies are deployed in order to achieve these aims remains the concern of the companies themselves. Effective but cost-saving procedures for the treatment of waste water are consequently experiencing a boom.

Prepar ing fo r l ibera l isat ion

The EU also sets trends for the water supply sector, particularly since November 1998 when the drink- ing water directive came into force. This must be implemented into national law by the end of the year 2000. The most important innovation is that the quality of

the drinking water for human consumption must comply with the scientific-technical progress.

In 1998, German waterworks alone invested more than DM 5 billion, almost half of which flowed into the expansion and restoration of the mains, approximately DM 1 billion was spent on water extraction and purification. These amounts will definitely not fall when the German drinking water directive is adjusted to the EU regulations.

In the meantime, more than 7000 municipal waterworks in the Federal Republic of Germany are prepar- ing themselves for the imminent liberalisation of the water economy. Although the EU is at present not planning a liberalisation direc- tive like that for electricity or natural gas, a tender directive is being com- piled which regulates the transfer of water economy duties to private third parties. Parallel to this, dis- cussions are taking place in the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin regarding the abolishment of exemption provisions in cartel law for the water economy.

This sector has already achieved the first spectacular privatisation successes within Germany. The Berlin waterworks has been taken over by a private consortium consisting of RWE (Essen), Allianz (Munich) and the French conglomerate Vivendi. Eurawasser GmbH (Berlin), a joint venture of Thyssen and Suez Lyonnaise Des Eaux (Paris) now provides supply and disposal services to Rostock (Mecklenburg-Vorpomm- ern, since 1993) and Potsdam, the capital city of the State of Brandenburg (since 1997). Germany's largest water supplier, Gelsenwasser AG (Gelsenkirchen), is also preparing itself for the competition through strategic alliances and participation in municipal invitations to tender and besides the supply of water also offers waste water services.

Its greatest success to date has been the take-over of the sewage clarification of the Hanseatic City of Bremen at the beginning of 1999. []

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