Wastewater treatment in Bucharest Bucharest is situated on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, which flows into the Argeș River, a tributary of the Danube. Bucharest is supplied with water by three drinking water plants, located outside the city perimeter. The Argeș river is the main source of raw water for two of the drinking water plants, while the Dambovita river supplies the third water plant. Until 2011, Bucharest discharged wastewater from more than 2 million inhabitants without treatment into the river. These wastewaters (from both domestic and industrial use) had seriously deteriorated both the Dâmbovita and Arges Rivers and made Bucharest the largest polluter of the Danube in the region. The construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Bucharest began in 1985 but was abandoned in 1996 because of lack of funds. By 2000, the need for an operational wastewater treatment plant became increasingly obvious. Furthermore, Romania declared its whole territory a sensitive area according to the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which requires all agglomerations of more than 10,000 population equivalents to have wastewater treatment plants with the highest degree of treatment, the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. In 2011, a wastewater treatment plant, Glina WWTP, started to operate in Bucharest and it will be further developed until 2017. After its completion, the plant will ensure the treatment of the entire wastewater flow of the Bucharest urban area and will discharge an effluent which will meet the requirements of national and European legislation, thus eliminating one of the major pollution hotspots in the Danube River basin (http://www.icpdr.org/main/publications/hotspot-no-more-wastewater-treatment-plant-bucharest). The operation of the wastewater treatment plant can significantly reduce the impact of Bucharest’s urban wastewater on surface water resources. Since the operation of the plant started in 2011, the total pollution removal from the wastewater by the treatment plant has steadily increasedfrom 242 t/day to 340 t/day (Apa Nova Bucureşti S.A., see factsheet in Annex to this report). Since 2014, the total pollution removal is even higher than the design level of the Glina WWTP. According to the WFD compliant monitoring results at the level of water bodies located on the Dambovita River (downstream of the Glina WWTP discharge) and on the Arges River (the last water body before discharging into the Danube River), the concentrations of organic and nutrient pollution indicators have significantly decreased in the last 5 years, leading to improvement of river water quality. It should be highlighted that in the receiving Dambovita water bodies, approximately 50 % reduction in the concentrations of organic substances (COD and BOD) have been registered, while total nitrogen and total phosphorous concentrations have decreased by approximately 30% and 60% respectively (Source: National Administration ”Romanian Waters”). The project has also contributed to increasing public’s awareness of the pollution effects of wastewater and the responsibility to protect river ecosystems. |
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