European Environmental Directives - Implications for Northern Ireland

This paper describes the current level of compliance in Northern Ireland with the European Community (EC) Directives on drinking water quality, bathing water quality², sewage sludge to land³ and the draft Directive on the disposal of sewage sludge to sea'. It examines the cost implications of full compliance. taking account of works already programmed, and concludes that additional funding will be required over the next ten years amounting to almost f250 million. A large proportion of this sum will be required for improvements relating to the drinking water Directive.
Compliance with the Directives is a statutory requirement throughout the UK. and there is no choice but to take the measures necessary to achieve full compliance.
An addendum to the paper describes the increase in estimated additional funding to approximately 440 million, due to general inflation and other factors since the paper was prepared. These other factors include the new draft municipal waste water treatment Directive, together with the March 1990 announcement by the UK Environment Minister committing the UK to the cessation of sewage sludge dumping at sea and the provision of sewage treatment for coastal outfalls.     

The Impact of the EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive

During the last two years significant policy and legislative developments have taken place in the UK and in the EC in respect of sewage treatment and disposal and the dumping of sewage sludge at sea. Details of the UK Government's sewage-treatment initiative and its decision to stop the dumping of sewage sludge at sea by 1998 are described. An outline is given of the provisions of the EC urban waste water treatment Directive, in particular those provisions concerned with sewage treatment, trade effluent discharges from prescribed industrial sectors, and the termination of dumping of sewage sludge at sea. The implications of these developments for Scottish sewerage authorities are summarized and provisional estimated costs of meeting these new obligations are given. The opportunities available to contractors and equipment manufacturers are highlighted.     

Process Options for Phosphorus and Nitrogen Removal from Wastewater

The paper reviews the current capabilities of processes for phosphorus and nitrogen removal in relation to the EC urban waste water treatment Directive. The Directive is briefly described and the implications for the UK are discussed. This is followed by a review of biological and chemical processes for nutrient removal with special reference to their current state of application and performance. Particular attention is paid to processes for biological phosphorus removal which, in the past, was said to be less reliable than the chemical options but which is now being more widely applied in other parts of Europe as well as South Africa and North America. Processes for modifying both activated sludge and biological filter systems to meet the Directive are briefly described.     

Setting Effluent Consent Standards

The paper outlines how consent standards are normally calculated in Scotland for both river systems and tidal waters. A background is given to the reason why a more statistical approach has been adopted in England and Wales where the use of combining distribution methods is more widespread. Comparison of the two approaches is made, particularly with regard to their potential impact on resources required for treatment plants, and also the problems of taking enforcement action. The setting of standards under the EC urban waste water treatment Directive is considered where, in addition to the implications of primary, secondary and more stringent treatment, consideration is given to storm-sewage overflows and industrial discharges.     

Impact in Scotland of UK and EC Sewage Legislation

The EC Directive (91/271/EEC) concerning urban waste water treatment has far-reaching financial and technological implications for local authorities in Scotland which are responsible for sewerage. Increased capital consent limits and additional financial assistance from central government are essential if the requirements of the legislation are to be met.
Although the Directive is welcomed in general terms, the sections of the legislation dealing with the identification of sensitive waters and the provision of primary treatment for coastal discharges to less sensitive waters are of limited environmental significance in Scotland.
The elimination of sewage sludge disposal at sea will create severe difficulties for Scottish authorities as a high percentage of sewage sludge is currently disposed of at sea. Each of the main alternative disposal options presents environmental, financial and technical problems and, in the case of incineration, the certainty of widespread unpopularity with the public.     

Biological Nutrient Removal: Design Snags, Operational Problems and Costs

The EC urban waste water treatment Directive will lead to some sewage-treatment works in the UK having to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. The paper reviews the basic biological processes which are available for retrofitting existing activated-sludge plants to achieve this removal, and then points to some of the problems which are encountered with these processes in other countries. The authors make suggestions as to how these problems can be overcome in design and operation. The paper also provides a cost comparison of different ways of uprating an existing nitrifying activated-sludge plant to achieve nitrification/ denitrification and phosphorus removal.     

Integrated Lake and Catchment Phosphorus Model -A Eutrophication Management Tool. II: Application to Rutland Water

An integrated lake and catchment model was used to simulate reservoir volume and phosphorus concentrations in Rutland Water over a period of seventeen years, taking into account changes in reservoir output and phosphorus sedimentation resulting from the addition of ferric sulphate. Application of the model for critical-period analysis and the setting of environmental targets and trigger values are discussed, and an example is given showing the impact of changing reservoir output on the frequency distribution of phosphorus using an eighty-year set of river-discharge data. The impact of phosphorus removal at point sources in the catchment on phosphorus concentrations in the river and reservoir is simulated and compared to results from SIMCAT - a steady-state model which was developed by the Environment Agency. Results are also compared with observed data following the implementation of the EC urban waste water treatment Directive, at the end of 1998.     

Sewage Sludge Production, Treatment and Disposal in the European Union

Sludge production and disposal are entering a period of dramatic change, driven mainly by EC legislation. The urban waste water treatment Directive will result in at least 50% more sludge being produced by the end of 2005 and, during the next decade, sludge disposal to all the established outlets could become increasingly difficult or, in the case of sea disposal, will become illegal. The challenge facing the members of the European Union is how to (a) maintain cost-effective and secure methods of sludge disposal and (b) engender public confidence in all disposal and recycling options. What is required is not so much innovative technology, although this may be essential, but more innovative attitudes and approaches to promotion and defending existing outlets.
This paper describes the likely pattern of sludge production, treatment and disposal which will emerge during the implementation of recent EC directives and other national policies in Europe, and focuses on the areas and issues which require innovative approaches.     

The Development and Application of Phosphorus Removal from Wastewater using Biological and Metal Precipitation Techniques

The paper describes a programme of technology development in phosphate removal which was carried out by Anglian Water in response to the requirements of the urban waste water treatment Directive Trials covered pilot and large-scale biological nutrient-removal plants, and iron-salt dosing to activated-sludge plants and biological filters. The fundamentals of the processes are discussed and results are presented.     

The Consent Contract for Effluent Discharges

The consent for the discharge of effluent is a contract between the discharger and the regulator. Its purpose is reviewed and compared with effluent performance characteristics. The evolvement of consent conditions and compliance assessment in Scotland is described, together with the challenge posed by the need to implement the urban waste water treatment Directive. A new framework for the consent contract is proposed for sewage and industrial discharges, which clearly prescribes the required effluent performance, authorizes non-compliance, and embodies an explicit assessment of compliance.     

The EC Bathing Waters Directive as Applied to Scotland

Some monitoring of the bacteriological quality of potential bathing waters has been carried out in Scotland since the publication of the EC bathing waters Directive'14 years ago. However, it is only since 1987 that 23 beaches in Scotland have been officially recognized as having bathing waters which should meet the environmental quality standards (EQS) laid down by the Directive. Results of the first three years'monitoring are outlined and the cost of this work has been estimated. The idea of reviewing the standards presently prescribed by the Directive is welcomed. The need to monitor both indicator and target organisms is questioned, and studies are cited suggesting that the present mandatory coliform standards may not be sufficiently stringent. Possible future requirements, including effects of the proposed Directive on the treatment of municipal waste waters, are briefly considered.     

Drinking Water: Future Quality Requirements

Regulations governing the quality of drinking water within the European Community must be based on Directive 80/778/EC, although Member States may impose tighter or additional limits if they so wish. The Directive is substantially derived from standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1970. Revised 'Guidelines Values'for water contaminants were issued by WHO in 1984, and a further revision will be published in 1993. Modest changes in the guidelines set by WHO for microbiological parameters since 1970 have been accompanied by a large increase in the number of limits set for chemical parameters. This is particularly marked for organic compounds including pesticides and disinfection byproducts. The new WHO guidelines will inevitably have an impact on water supplies in the UK, but the timescale for a significant change in the outmoded EC Directive is uncertain.     

The Quality of Private Water Supplies in Calderdale - the Implications of the EC Directive on Drinking Water Quality

T he NUMBER AND nature of private water supplies in Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, West Yorkshire, were determined and each of these supplies sampled once or more to determine their compliance with the 1985'EC Directive on drinking water quality'. A total of 560 private water supplies were located serving 1970 properties. Of a total of 1160 samples tested, 83 per cent failed to meet the maximum admissible concentration for one or more of the parameters specified in the EC Directive. These parameters monitored included faecal coliforms, for which 48 per cent of the samples failed, and lead, for which 25 per cent failed. Possible reasons for these failures are discussed and the implications of these results on the implementation of the Directive are considered.     

The EC Directive on Drinking Water (EEC 80/778)

The background to and technical deficiencies of the EC Drinking Water Directive are discussed. Although the inadequacies of the Directive are becoming increasingly recognized, there is no doubt that it has had a major impact on the UK water industry, much of which will be beneficial in the long term. However, it has provided a significant challenge to water suppliers on technical and environmental issues, as well as in new areas such as publicity and customer awareness. The water industry should be seen to be responding to the situation vigorously and positively to meet the spirit of the Directive, whilst seeking technical refinements which will make it a more practicable piece of legislation for the future.     

Hydrological assessment of flow dynamic changes by storm sewer overflows and combined sewer overflows on an event-scale in an urban river

In addition to assessing the impacts of water quality changes in urban rivers caused by storm water sewer overflows (SWO) and combined sewer overflows (CSO), the extent to which flow dynamics are changed by these structures must be understood in order to define hydrological assessment criteria to guide sustainable water management strategies as required by the European Community (EC) Water Framework Directive. In this study, the quantitative impacts of SWOs and CSOs on the flow dynamics of an urban river and their variability are investigated. For four single runoff events, hydrological measurements were accomplished in the River Dreisam, upstream and downstream of the city of Freiburg, in southwest Germany. As the catchment is widely free of urban areas upstream of the city, comparison with downstream locations allowed quantification of Freiburg's effects on the changes in the hydrograph on an event scale. The proposed hydrological parameter—flow acceleration, peak discharge, and discharge dosage—were shown to be appropriate to assess the impacts of SWOs and CSOs on flood hydrographs in urban rivers.     

A Water-Resources and Water-Quality Management Plan for the City of Tallinn, Estonia

The increasingly common occurrence of eutrophic conditions in shallow lakes and reservoirs, including the presence of potentially toxic blue-green algae, has given rise to water-quality concerns throughout the world. The need to undertake active catchment management to improve raw-water quality is a key component of the new EC Water Framework Directive.
This paper describes the investigations which were undertaken in Tallinn (the capital of Estonia, the northernmost of the Baltic States) to develop an integrated approach to catchment and lake management, in order to improve the quality of the surface-water resource which provides 90% of the total drinking-water needs of the city. Several tools, including 'geographical information systems'and spreadsheet-based financial and water-resources models, were developed to investigate the source of the water-quality problems. Practical solutions comprising an innovative and cost-effective catchment-management approach to overcome the seasonal raw-water quality issues, whilst also reducing treatment plant operating costs, are described. Some of the recommendations have been tested by Tallinn Water following the investigations, and some improvements in raw and treated water quality have been attained.     

Developments in Health-Related Quality Standards for Chemicals in Drinking Water

Small differences in water quality standards can mean huge differences in costs for water treatment; difficulties which are compounded by standards for which the derivation is unclear, such as the EC drinking water Directive. Such situations give no indication of the margin of safety for a parameter or the significance to consumers of exceedances. The WHO Guidelines are being revised and will be presented so that the precise derivation of the numbers is absolutely clear. The scientific and quasi-scientific considerations can be separated and the user given the appropriate information to adapt the guidelines to particular circumstances. In deriving standards for toxicological data the factors incorporated reflect uncertainties in the data and extrapolation from animals to man. Understanding the mechanisms of toxicity or carcinogenicity can reduce the uncertainty and improve the quality of the standard, often allowing higher figures to be used with confidence that public health will not be comprised.     

Analysis of household access to drinking water,sanitation, and waste disposal services in urban areas of Nepal

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the provision of access to clean and sufficient drinking water, sanitation facilities, and proper waste management in developing countries. This paper examines household access to these services in urban areas of Nepal by studying the comprehensive data of the Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS) for the 1995-1996, 2003–2004, and 2010–2011 periods. Multinomial logit models are employed to identify and analyse potentially influential factors. We find that education levels, household wealth, and distance to markets are among the significant determinants of household access to safe and secure drinking water, flush toilets connected to septic tanks, and proper liquid and solid waste disposal. Households located in relatively developed regions, such as the Midwest and Far West, tend to have better access to these services compared to households located in the ecologically sensitive mountainous regions. Education and employment opportunities are also relevant to service access in urban areas of Nepal. Stakeholder involvement and effective governmental intervention are also necessary.     

UK Drinking Water: A European Comparison

Introduction of the drinking-water Directive has resulted in a much more quantified approach to drinking-water quality. Increased attention from environmental groups and the media, together with occasional breaches of the limits, have resulted in a loss of confidence in the product. Infringements depend upon the stringency of the limits and the quality of available raw water. The UK is one of the few EC countries having to use a high proportion of surface water. The Directive has now been fully implemented in all member states, but information on compliance is poor. Only the UK and Ireland produce compliance reports. Published papers indicate that infringement problems exist throughout the Community, particularly for pesticides, nitrate, lead, coliforms and iron. Nevertheless, drinking water is of very high quality within the EC, and UK supplies compare very favourably with the rest.     

Economic valuation of environmental benefits from wastewater treatment processes: An empirical approach for Spain

Economic research into the design and implementation of policies for the efficient management of water resources has been emphasized by the European Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC). The efficient implementation of policies to prevent the degradation and depletion of water resources requires determining their value in social and economic terms and incorporating this information into the decision-making process. A process of wastewater treatment has many associated environmental benefits. However, these benefits are often not calculated because they are not set by the market, due to inadequate property rights, the presence of externalities, and the lack of perfect information. Nevertheless, the valuation of these benefits is necessary to justify a suitable investment policy and a limited number of studies exist on the subject of the economic valuation of environmental benefits. In this paper, we propose a methodology based on the estimation of shadow prices for the pollutants removed in a treatment process. This value represents the environmental benefit (avoided cost) associated with undischarged pollution. This is a pioneering approach to the economic valuation of wastewater treatment. The comparison of these benefits with the internal costs of the treatment process will provide a useful indicator for the feasibility of wastewater treatment projects.