Effect of sewage percolation from small scale waste water treatment plants in unserved areas

01.01.2005 - 30.06.2008
Auftragsforschungsprojekt
Due to the local geographical situation, at least 5% of the Austrian population will remain unconnected to larger public waster water treatment plants. One alternative in such a case is the disposal by small scale plants (<50 EW). If there is no receiving stream available sewage percolation of the treated effluent may be considered as a potential option. However, groundwater protection is of highest priority in Austria in order to maintain high quality drinking water resources. Thus sewage percolation has to be evaluated rigorously. According to the current knowledge, groundwater contamination especially from a sanitary point of view can be very critically. A detailed evaluation of the impact of a respective sewage percolation depends on the local hydrological and geological situation and can only be determined by extensive investigations for each single case. Unfortunately, this effort appears unrealistic for the routine case and criteria and guidelines are needed which are in a realist balance to the resources available. The main aim of this project is to evaluate the potential effects of sewage percolation from small scale treatment plants and furthermore to develop criteria which assist the authorities during evaluations. As hygienic criteria are considered to be crucial, main emphasis is put on the potential contamination, and spread of pathogenic microorganisms in the unsaturated as well as saturated zone of aquifers. Besides others, risk assessment approaches for small scale sewage disposal systems will be developed and applied.

Personen

Projektleiter_in

Projektmitarbeiter_innen

Institut

Contract/collaboration

  • Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • Beyond TUW-research focus: 100%

Schlagwörter

DeutschEnglisch
Abwasserreinigungwastwater treatment
Abwasser-Versickerungsewage percolation

Publikationen