Aspects of Sewage Disposal from Tourist Facilities in National Parks and Other Protected Areas

Abstract

Due to the natural assets and landscape values, domestic sewage generated by tourist facilities situated in protected areas, which in Poland are among others the national park areas, is characterized by a considerable quantitative and qualitative variability. The features are affected by the character of a facility and its location, the facility loading with tourist traffic and the resultant daily and hourly characteristics of water consumption.These conditions pose serious problems for the development of an efficient sewage disposal technology. Moreover, one should also bear in mind the fact that treated sewage is usually discharged into flowing waters classified at purity class I, which may lead to a worsening of these watercourses' purity status [1].Sewage treatment plants operating by mountain hostels are additionally exposed to the effect of low atmospheric air temperatures, which negatively influence the effectiveness of biogenic compound removal in biological processes occurring in sequential bioreactors and in biofilters [2].Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 24, No. 1 (2015), [107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114] AbstractOur paper presents an analysis of the factors directly affecting the quantity and quality of sewage discharged from tourist facilities located in national parks and other protected areas regarding natural assets and landscape. The study was based on the results of analyses carried out over one calendar year in the mountain hostel located in Chochołowska Glade in Tatra National Park. The performed analysis revealed that domestic sewage generated in tourist facilities is characterized by high variability, both quantitative and qualitative. These parameters are influenced by: the nature of the object and its location, the load of the facility with tourist traffic and the resulting daily and hourly water consumption. These conditions pose significant problems in the development of efficient sewage treatment technologies. In view of the obtained results, it was concluded that sewage treatment plants, suggested for the use in tourist facilities located in foothill and mountain areas, should be resistant to periodically occurring hydraulic underloading or overloading, as well as to frequent changes in the daily and hourly concentrations of pollutants. They should also be insensitive to frequent and sudden changes in weather conditions, mainly temperature. This type of sewage treatment plant included the solutions based on soil-plant systems or sand filters, as well as the ones located in thermally insulated buildings -sequential biological reactors and flow reactors with biological membrane module.

Influence of the Hybrid Sewage Treatment Plant’s Exploitation on Its Operation Effectiveness in Rural Areas

“…In case of the systems operating on classic active sludge, which has become a more and more popular trend in Poland for small amounts of sewage treatment, severe exploitation problems may occur, such as sludge rinsing during significant hydraulic frictions, which in consequence influences the treated sewage quality. A high irregularity of the pollutants' concentration in the household sewage is also shown in the research carried out by Wąsik and Chmielowski [24], Kaczor et al [25], Bugajski et al [26], Nowak et al [27], Chmielowski et al [28]. These authors, while testing the quality of sewage drained from the rural areas, noticed significant fluctuations in the BOD 5 values, COD, and/or total nitrogen.…”

Application of the Mathematical Simulation Methods for the Assessment of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Operation Work Reliability

“…Such irregularity is typical for household sewage. Research results presented by [45][46][47][48][49] also indicate on the irregularity of pollutants concentration in household sewage.…”

The Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects of Sustainable Development in the Eastern Carpathians, and Protecting its Environment

“…Our results support the assumption that villages situated near hiking trails and sites of cultural and natural heritage report higher tourism revenue than those in more remote villages. On the other hand, tourism development also has negative impacts on waste production or sewage outflow from touristic facilities situated in protected areas [59].…”