stategies of switzerland and international water ...isww.iwg.kit.edu/medien/schaerer.pdf ·...

Federal Department of the Environment,

Transport, Energy and Communications DETEC

Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

Stategies of Switzerland

and International Water

Protection Commissions

Karlsruhe, May 27th 2011

Water Division

2 Strategies ofSwitzerland and international commissions|

Michael Schaerer, 27.5. 2011

Strategy of Switzerland – prioritisation

of sources and pathways

Agriculture

traffic

Atmospheric deposition

Waste water

treatment plants

Urban water

management

(storm flow)

Land fills Other activities (shipping, leisure, ..)

Agriculture



Watershed management

see http://www.bafu.admin.ch

Emerging pollutants

Plant protection products

Heavy metals

PCB, PAK

Nutrients, COD,…

Water quality

generally good, still

some challenges:

emerging pollutants



1. Analysis of situation in Switzerland -

Regional problems with micropollutants

Treated waste water =

Complex mixture of substances

Adverse effects on ecosystems

Exceedance of water quality criteria

for 6 modelled micropollutants# substances exceeding criteria

Anteil gereinigtes Abwasser in grossen und mittleren FliessgewässernPercentageof treated waste water in Swiss streams

Substance loads in drinking

water resources

Diclofenac, estrogenes, some antibiotics

and other compounds……



1. Analysis of situation in Switzerland -

Waste water load in (surface) waters

related to high population density

Exceedance of water quality criteria

for 6 modelled micropollutants# substances exceeding criteria

Anteil gereinigtes Abwasser in grossen und mittleren FliessgewässernPercentageof treated waste water in Swiss streams

Population density



Development of an assessment concept

see Götz et al. 2010, Kase et al. (2011)




Evaluation of measures


measure effectiveness

Primary measures Information Depends on substance (group),

only applicable for limited amount of

substances

Regulation of production and

application of substances

applicable for limited amount of

substances

Ban of substances applicable for limited amount of

substances

Source separation Measures at primary pollution sources

(production plants)

applicable for limited amount of

substances

Complete change of urban waste water

management (urine separation etc)

Very high costs, only applicable on

the long term (> 50 y)

End of pipe measures Complementary treatment (z. B. ozone,

active carbon)

Reduction of a broad range of

pollutants



Evaluation of technical measures

Élimination

ultérieure

d’éléments-traces

Traitements

physico-chimiques

• charbon actif en poudre

• charbon actif en granulés

Traitement par

oxydation chimique

• chloration

• UV

• H2O2 / UV

• réactif de Fenton

• ozonation

Procédés

physiques• floculation

• précipitation

• échange d‟ions

• filtration sur membrane

• filtration sur sable

Procédés

(physico-) biologiques

• filtration sur sable

• lit fixe / lit fluidisé

• passage dans le sol

• étang

1. Energy consumption, costs

2. Efficiency of treatment to reduce micropollutants /

effects and influence on effluent quality

3. Technology and operation

Report by end of 2011



Evaluation of technical measures on

existing WWTPs: PAC and Ozonation

0 20 40 60 80 100

Iopromid

Atrazin

Mecoprop

Atenolol

Benzotriazol

Bezafibrat

Methylbenzotriazol

Metoprolol

Sulfamethoxazol

Clarithromycin

Carbamazepin

Sulfapyridin

Trimethoprim

Diclofenac

Elimination (%)

1157

791 ± 24

617 ± 47

396 ± 63

Ozonkonentraton

in g Ozon/kg DOC

Ozone concentration

in gO3/kgDOC

Elimination [%]

Very effective technologies available

Several large scale experiments

Powdered active carbon (PAC)

ozonation

Reduction of ecotoxic effects

Strongly reduced estrogenic activity

Better development of fish embryo

Higher abundance of species at risk in river

Up to 26 bioassays in large scale experiments

Economically feasible and

reasonable in specific cases

energy increase 20 – 25 % in WWTP

cost increase 5 – 25 %

Manageable for WWTP-personnel



Ongoing political process

Amendment of water protection ordinance

• proposed in 2009:

• Optimization of 100 (out of 750) WWTP

in order to

• Protect ecosystems and drinking water resources

• Reduce high loads

• Public hearing 11/2009 until 4/2010

• Strong support for measures in principle

• Intensive discussions on financing, planning etc.

• Discussion in Federal Assembly



Outlook – ongoing political process

parliamentary intervention in 2010

of the Committee for the Environment, Spatial

Planning and Energy (CESPE ) of the council of

states

• Development of financing solution in

agreement with the “polluter pays principle”

• Establish legal requirements for financing

and implementation of measures

→ Accepted by Federal assembly in March 2011



International water protection

commissions



International cooperation since 1960

Lac Leman (CH, F):

CIPEL : Commission internationale

pour la protection

des eaux du Léman

(http://www.cipel.org)

Swiss-Ittalian waters (CH, I):

CIPAIS : Commissione Internazionale

per la Protezione

delle Acque Italo-Svizzere

(http://www.cipais.org/)

Lake constance: IGKB (CH, A, D, FL)

Internationale Gewässerschutzkommission

für den Bodensee

http://www.igkb.de/

Rhine (CH, F, D, L, NL) :

IKSR - Internationale Kommission

zum Schutz des Rheins

http://www.iksr.org/

Doubs (CH, F)

Commission internationale

pour la pêche dans le Doubs Alpenrhein (A, CH, FL):

Internationale Regierungskommission Alpenrhein

(www.alpenrhein.net)

http://www.cipel.org/

http://www.cipais.org/

http://www.igkb.de/


http://www.alpenrhein.net/



Micropollutants – international context

Instruments

• problem-specific working or project groups (IKSR, CIPEL)

• Definition of river-basin specific substances (IKSR)

• Warning and Alarm plan Rhine: Monitoring (IKSR)

• Screening and monitoring-campaigns (IKSR, IGKB, CIPEL,

CIPAIS)

• Modelling and Massbalances (IKSR, CIPEL, IGKB)

• Evaluation of mains source for specific substances (IKSR,

CIPEL, IGKB)

• Development of a strategy (IKSR)



International Commission for the

Protection of the Rhine - Mandate

of project group MIKRO

Goal 1. Substances in Rhine water may neither

individually, nor in mutual interaction have

detrimental impacts on the biocoenosis of flora,

fauna and micro-organisms and

2. Water quality must be such that drinking water

production is possible with simple, natural

treatment methods.

3. Taking into account new developments and further

substances



Working approach

1. Problem analysis • Gathering of available information

• Inventory

• Evaluation reports

2. Basis for possible measures

3. Strategy for the implementation of

measures



Problem analysis

Focus on 10 substance groups: • pharmaceuticals

• biocides

• estrogenes

• ……

„universe of substance“

over 100„000 synthetic organic compounds on EU-

market

Pragmatic approach

Selection of indicator substances for each substance group



Work is in progress, first reports are

available – some statements

Highest concentrations of pharmaceuticals (..) are

found in

• Those tributaries to the Rhine with a high share of

(biologically) treated municipal wastewater

• The lower section of the Rhine (Delta Rhine).

Highest concentrations of some compounds are

above the proposed environmental quality standards

of the EU-Water Framework Directive (Diclofenac,

Estrogenes).

Substances are found in the raw water of drinking

water plants.



Possible measures

• Measures at the source

• Source separation (measures at input

pathway)

• Centralized measures in municipal

wastewater treatment plants

• Adaptation of monitoring programme

• Information of the public



Work in progress

visit www.iksr.org

Several reports are already published




Thank you for your attention!

[email protected]

www.bafu.admin.ch/micropoll

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