National Sludge Managment Strategy
Study Tour
Two Study Tours
Background
According to the ToR of the NIPS Project a study tour is to be organised with the scope to visit sludge management operations in the EU that are similar to those proposed by the NSMS. In agreement with the beneficiaries it was decided to visit Austria. The study tour was organized by the NIPS Project during June 20 – 24, 2022.
This visit gave the unique opportunity to 15 participants for experience sharing and knowledge transfer, helping to enhance their understanding of the implementation and operational details as per EU standards and requirements, in the sludge management area.
Itinerary
The study tour provided practical examples of processes (process flow) such as sludge generation, quality, and management at existing WWTPs, sludge treatment, use and disposal and transport logistics. Five facilities were visited, as presented in the following table.
Table: Facilities visitied during the study tour
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 | Sewage Sludge Treatment Plant in St. Pölten in Lower Austria: focused in agricultural reuse, disposal, logistics, etc. guided by Michael Pollak, of WPA Beratende Ingenieure, ÖWAV (Austrian Water and Waste Management Association) – The wastewater association of the WWTP consists of 13 municipalities and the capacity of the WWTP is of 280,000 PEs |
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 | Wastewater and Sludge Treatment Plant Mürz I, Langenwang guided by Andreas Zöscher, Managing Director – a wastewater association that consists of 13 municipalities and 4 WWTPs serving a population of 74,502 inhabitants and in total 116,000 PEs. |
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 | The constructed wetland at Bärenkogelhau, guided by Dr. Günter Langergraber and Dr. Florian Kretschmer, both of University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) – a vertical-flow treatment wetland (VFTW) 1,168 m above sea level. It is a first full-scale implementation of a two-stage VFTW system developed to increase nitrogen removal. |
Thursday, 23 June 2022 | EBS Vienna Wastewater Treatment Plant, guided by Dr. Gerald Wandl – is one of the biggest in Europe with a treatment capacity of 4 million PEs. |
Thursday, 23 June 2022 | Wien Energie – City of Vienna Energy waste incineration state of art plant is Austria’s largest regional energy provider providing two million customers with electricity, heating, cooling, electro mobility and telecommunication services. |
For more information and the agenda of the study tour follow please download the full report on the study tour here (–> accessible with password).
Following the 1st study tour which took place in Austria in summer 2022, the second study tour was implemented from 22nd to 26th of May 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden, households and certain industries in 422 urban areas generate 12.6 million p.e. of wastewater every day.
Sweden designated all of its territory as sensitive areas and decided that agglomerations over 10 000 p.e. discharging into sensitive areas must apply biological treatment with nitrogen and/or phosphorus removal. Urban wastewater is treated in 432 plants before its discharge.
This Study Tour offered the visit of Bromma wastewater treatment plant where the quality monitoring and management of sludge was highlighted. In addition, discussions at Sweco premises with wastewater specialists from Sweco and associations were held on:
- the detection of polluters upstream,
- the awareness campaign carried out to sensibilize the citizens on what shall be wastewater,
- the implementation of strategies for advanced wastewater treatment,
- the REVAQ-certification and perspective for the acceptance of sludge as a fertilizer,
- the institutional organization of the water and wastewater sectors.
One of the drinking water treatment plants supplying Stockholm was also visited
