WATER AND SEWAGE TREATMENT FACILITIES IN GERMANY

ВОДООЧИСТНЫЕ И КАНАЛИЗАЦИОННЫЕ ОЧИСТНЫЕ СООРУЖЕНИЯ В ГЕРМАНИИ

Новожилова Полина

cтудент, Национальный Исследовательский Московский Государственный Строительный Университет,

РФ, г. Москва

Борискин Данила

cтудент, Национальный Исследовательский Московский Государственный Строительный Университет,

РФ, г. Москва

Романова Анастасия

cтудент, Национальный Исследовательский Московский Государственный Строительный Университет,

РФ, г. Москва

ABSTRACT

The article deals with the issue of the state of water treatment and sewage facilities in Germany.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В статье рассматривается вопрос состояния водоочистных и канализационных очистных сооружений в Германии.

Keywords: sewage treatment plants, wastewater disposal, water supply, sewage treatment plants.

Ключевые слова: водоочистные сооружения, водоотведение, водоснабжение, канализационные очистные сооружения.

Today, Germany is one of the leading countries in the field of water supply and water resources management not only in Europe, but also around the world. Water plays an important role in many processes, and it is widely used in agriculture, public and private life. Central water supply and sanitation systems created in Germany have long-standing traditions and are often based on concepts that have remained unchanged for a long time.

Natural water reserves of 182 billion cubic meters are quite enough for Germany. On average, in Berlin, one resident consumes 115 liters of water daily. It is worth noting that the country has a very good quality of drinking water. According to the law, compliance with strict standards is controlled by the state. Regional health services are responsible for this. Due to the continuous maintenance of facilities and distribution networks, the risk of, for example, bacterial contamination increases. Systematic monitoring of the quality of drinking water makes it possible to quickly analyze the shortcomings and to take appropriate measures. For example, in Germany, in certain areas, when problems are detected, additional chlorination is used for disinfection purposes, the immediate adoption of measures especially quickly prevents the adverse long-term consequences. It's hard to imagine what a huge amount of work needs to be done to clean water in a millionaire city.

 Let's consider the functioning of the system of purification and supply of drinking water on the example of the capital of Germany.

Berlin is supplied with drinking water by 15 water supply stations. They are located near reservoirs, lakes and rivers or in large woodlands. Ground water accumulates here from rains, as well as from the penetration of water from reservoirs into the ground (coastal filtration). Since water slowly seeps into the ground, it is well cleaned, and its properties are the same as those of natural groundwater. Berliner Wasserbetriebe is responsible for the supply of drinking water and its purification.

The Ruleben treatment facilities were launched in 1963. They are the largest in Germany and they are capable of purifying water for 1.1 million people. From 8 to 15 tons of eclectic "solid" waste are removed from the station every day. Two types of cleaning are used here: mechanical and biological. During mechanical cleaning, large organic and mineral contamination stops at the preliminary stages. At the subsequent stages of cleaning, small particles (sand, slag, broken glass, etc.) are removed. During the biological stage, the dissolved part of the contaminated sewage is cleaned by special microorganisms (From the point of view of microorganisms, of course, they do not purify the water — they just live in it, eat different substances and, without knowing it, help us). The sedimentation tanks, where the water enters, are designed for the deposition of organic matter. These are reservoirs up to several meters deep, radial or rectangular in shape. Drains are fed into their centers from below, and a special float from above drives away all the pollution lighter than water. There is also thermal disposal of residues by burning them in furnaces at a temperature of 750 to 850 degrees. The process of complete water purification takes 24 hours.

At the moment, there are about 1,170 kilometers of pressure pipeline, 9646 kilometers of sewage, 154 pumping stations, 6 treatment facilities for 3.5 million people and about 10 treatment plants. 93.2 percent of the population is connected to the central sewer network - such figures can characterize the infrastructure of the wastewater treatment system in Berlin

The percentage of water leaks in the distribution network is the most important parameter for determining the quality condition of pipelines and fittings, including maintenance and operation. If the network is outdated, maintenance, operation and control are carried out poorly (for example, illegal water intake takes place), and accordingly a high proportion of water losses is formed. Although Germany is rich in water resources, water supply companies have been striving for decades to reduce water losses, and along with economic, hygienic and environmental aspects, they have played a role in making Germany an advanced country in the field of water supply and water management. A high proportion of water leaks in the distribution network signals deficiencies in the condition of pipes and fittings, in ongoing maintenance, an extremely long service life and the need for renewal.

In 1873, James Gobrecht developed a single project for the entire sewerage system of Berlin. The project consisted of 12 sewer zones independent of each other, which run along the natural boundaries of flowing rivers and hills. The first such systems were put into operation in 1878.

In German centers with a high concentration of industry and population, there is an exclusively central sewer system. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the annual volume of wastewater in 1998 amounted to 9.6 billion cubic meters, including about 4.9 billion cubic meters, accounted for domestic and industrial contaminated wastewater. The predominant amount of wastewater (99.5 percent) is treated at municipal wastewater treatment plants, and only 0.5 percent of wastewater is treated at industrial enterprises. The share of wastewater entering the sewer network from the outside in 1998 amounted to about 2 billion cubic meters, Direct discharge without pretreatment decreased from approximately 115 million cubic meters in 1997 to 65.3 million cubic meters, in 2000.

From 1944 to 1970, Germany invested more than 78 billion euros in the construction, expansion and reconstruction of sewers and sewage treatment plants on old federal lands owned by local authorities; 23 billion euros of them were spent on the expansion of sewage treatment plants and about 55 billion euros were spent on capital investments in the field of sewerage. From 1991 to 1996, Germany invested about 22 billion euros in sanitation. The annual expenditures of local authorities and trade unions in the field of municipal sanitation amount to more than 6 billion euros.

Thus, summing up all that has been said, we can draw some conclusions:

1. The development of the water sector in Germany is high, but still requires a corresponding restructuring of management structures and modification of labor distribution between lands and local governments.

2. The main task of Germany is to consolidate and constantly update systems through sufficient reinvestment and modernization measures. The country should provide such a program that would ensure that water supply and sanitation facilities would not have time to become obsolete, their technologies and concepts would follow the latest stages of development and would meet the current requirements of laws and the wishes of customers in the field of water resources.

References:

1. Bach M., Frede H.-G. (1997): Agricultural balances of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in Germany Methodology and trends from 1970 to 1995. Z. Pflancenernaer. Bodenkd., 161, 385-393.
2. Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit //Prof. doc.-eng. doc.-econ. Karl-Ulrich Rudolf. September 2001.
3. Federal Ministry of Ecology, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety of Germany. // Data from the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety of Germany.
4. Kremer A., Rudolf K.-U.: (1999) Payment for sewerage: a European comparison. in: European Water Resources Management, Volume 2, Number 5, p. 39 et seq.
5. Novotny, V. (1988): Diffuse (point) pollution - a political, institutional and financial problem. J. Water Pollution Control Federation, 60, 8, 1404 – 1413.