TITLE:
Water Analyses, Eco-Balance and Socio-Demographic Analyses as Prerequisites for Solutions of the Sewage Treatment Problems in Rural Areas
AUTHORS:
Christian Opp, Bastian Ziebolz
KEYWORDS:
Water Analyses, Eco-Balance, Sewage Treatment Plant, Socio-Economic and Demographic Analyses
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.3 No.10,
December
18,
2015
ABSTRACT:
The implementation of the
EU-water framework directive (EU-WFD) demands a financeable and adaptable
sewage treatment, creating a need for action especially in rural areas, where
the “good ecological status” is often not reached even though the sewage works
fulfill the legal minimum requirements. Therefore the construction of new, more
efficient wastewater treatment plants is advisable. Due to the precarious
financial situation in most rural areas, many municipalities can however not
master the necessary funds for an improved waste water infrastructure. A large
part of the costs would have to be shouldered by the local population in the
form of additional sewage levies, leading to massive socio-economic strain.
Hence, different solutions, which are tailored to the socio-economic,
demographic and environmental characteristics of rural areas and fulfill the
legal requirements, need to be developed. One possible approach is presented in
the form of the Dirlammen case study (municipality Lautertal, Hesse, Germany).
It consists of 1) biological and physicochemical analyses of the waste waters,
2) a modified eco-balance for the construction of a new sewage works and 3)
socio-economic and demographic analyses of the population. It serves as a tool
for the assessment of the influencing ecological, socio-economic and
demographic factors on the sewage problems in rural areas. These findings can
easily be transferred to other rural areas with a similar configuration and
thus deliver the basis for a generally applicable approach to these problems.
The results of the comprehensive analysis have shown for the municipality Dirlammen/Lautertal
that the continued operation of the existing pond sewage plant is, with regards
to the ecological, socio-economic and demographic points of view, preferable to
the construction of a new waste water treatment plant. With regard to the
sustainability principles of the sewage treatment and the objectives of the
EU-WFD, existing sewage works should be operated for as long as the sewage
treatment is feasible within technical and legal boundaries. With the
construction of new facilities on the other hand, the expected improvement of
the water quality has to be weighed against the ecological impairments caused
by the construction itself. Rural waste water plans have to be developed for
the long-term, taking not only the ecology into account but also the demographic
change. Possible approaches in this regard could be a shift towards a
decentralized waste water treatment concept and–even more important–improvements
of the river morphology. But also the reduction of the diffuse pollution from
agricultural sources should be considered for the development of strategies for
the improvement of the ecological state. Short-term optimization measures in
the existing sewage works might also improve the water quality until the
long-term development plans can be implemented. In particular the challenges of
the demographic change and linked with that the changing requirements for the
rural waste water treatment must be addressed by any future plans. Only with
the help of such a comprehensive approach the dangers of bad planning and
unacceptable socio-economic burdens can be minimized.