Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Solutions for Rural Communities’: Public (Centralized) or Individual (On-Site) – Case Study

Abstract

The implementation of Water Framework Directive, speaking about the need to achieve good water status, and thus the corresponding sewage treatment caused the problem of waste water management has become a very important starting from the municipal level, through the national and the European ending. Sustainability, although not explicitly mentioned in the relevant EU or national legislation, it is key to implement wastewater systems. Their main objectives are to protect and promote human health by providing a clean environment, and breaking the cycle of disease. In this paper sustainability of wastewater collection and treatment options in the rural communities' in Poland, are discussed in the context of recent infrastructure investments. The paper presents an attempt to evaluate the implemented solutions for wastewater management in rural areas considering sustainable development criteria. Advantages and disadvantages of proposed system has been analysed with the focus to the question of selecting the right strategy that would fulfil both population and environmental needs.

Water and Sewage Management Issues in Rural Poland

“…The reasons are both technical and economic. Rural buildings are much more spread out than urban buildings, which in many cases removes the economic justification for investment [24]. It should be remembered that WWTP is both the most important and the most expensive feature of wastewater management.…”

Planning the optimal solution for wastewater management in rural areas - case study

“…Very often the tanks were old devices with questionable leak-tight containment structure. These small-scale units have high relevance in low population-density areas, where discharge of sewage to a central wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) through a central drainage system is not economically feasible [3].…”

“…It should be remembered that biomass is responsible for treating wastewater and that is why it is important to care of its stability and vitality. The importance of user habits was also strongly emphasized in many publications dedicated to household wastewater treatment plants [2,3,4,23]. Therefore, it is forbidden to discharge: disinfectants, medicines, fats, food oils and solvents into the sewage system.…”

“…As per the above, it may turn out after 20-30 years of operation that the selected system based on DSTP did not prove to be a cheaper solution than the construction of sewage system and traditional sewage treatment plant. Particularly because the entire service cost is covered by municipality founds [3,4].…”

“…Nevertheless, there are very few properly operating local or individual sewage systems in our country [3].The most widespread are septic tanks, theoretically sealed, and practically the leakiest septic tanks, from which sewage is transported by tank vehicle to the treatment plant and sometimes in an uncontrolled way it results in the environment. The household sewage treatment plants with the discharge of treated sewage to the ground are an effective and safe solution, provided that they are properly designed, constructed and operated [4].…”