WasteWaterTreatment and Blue Flag program Spain.pdf

EU Directive Waste Water Treatment and Blue Flag program

1. Ana Pérez Montero
WASTE WATER TREATMENT

2. The Directive requires the collection of waste water for all larger
agglomerations -collected waste water must be treated to the
required standards (Art 4 and Art 5).
Agglomerations: an area where the population and/or economic
activities are sufficiently concentrated for urban waste water to be
collected and conducted to an urban waste water treatment plant or
to a final discharge point.
The term ‘agglomeration’ should not be confused with administrative
entities (such as municipalities or other local authority areas), which
may carry the same name.
Every agglomeration bigger than 2,000 population equivalent must
comply with the Directive.
EU Directive

3. Theagglomerationcanbeservedbyone(relation1:1)orby
severalurbanwastewatertreatmentplants(relation1:n).
Furthermore,asingleagglomerationcanbecoveredbyseveral
collectingsystems,eachofthemconnectedtooneorseveral
plants.Similarlyseveralcollectingsystemscanbeconnectedto
thesameplant.
Populationequivalent:onepopulationequivalent(p.e.)means
theorganicbiodegradableloadhavingafive-daybiochemical
oxygendemand(BOD5)of60gofoxygenperday”.
Small
town
Treatment
plant
Big town
Small town
Small
town
AGGLOMERATION
EU Directive

4. Primarytreatment:justphysicall.
Secondarytreatment:alsochemical.Neededinnormalandsensitiveareasforall
agglomerationsofmorethan2,000p.e.dischargingintofreshwatersandestuaries,and
(inanycase)forallagglomerationsofmorethan10,000p.e.dischargingintocoastal
waters.
Tertiarytreatment:neededinsensitiveareasofmorethan10,000p.e.
EU Directive

5. Sensitiveareas:itisanenvironmentallyprotectedareadesignated
bytheEU.Theseare:
•Freshwaterbodies,estuariesandcoastalwaterswhichare
eutrophicorwhichmaybecomeeutrophicifprotectiveaction
isnottaken;
•Surfacefreshwatersintendedfortheabstractionofdrinking
waterwhichcontainorarelikelytocontainmorethan50mg/l
ofnitrates;
•Areaswherefurthertreatmentisnecessarytocomplywith
otherCouncilDirectivessuchastheBathingWaterDirective.
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-pollution/uwwtd
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-
pollution/uwwtd/interactive-maps/urban-waste-water-treatment-
maps-1
EU Directive

6. EU maps

7. To check the fulfilment of the Directive, there is a number of
samples needed (minimum 1 per month), depending on the
size of the water treatment plant.
Fulfilment of the Directive
Number of samples Maximumnumber of NON
compliance
4-7 1
8-16 2
17-28 3
p.e.2,000-10,000 12 samples 1
st
year/ 4
samples on the next years.
p.e.10,000-50,000 12 samples/year
p.e.+ 50,000 24 samples/year

8. Theparameterscontrolledinthosesamplesare:nitrogen,
phosphorous,biochemicaloxygendemand(BOD)and
chemicaloxygendemand(COD).Therearelimitsvaluesfor
eachofthemand%ofreductionafterwastewatertreatment.
WastewaterplantsareresponsibleforsamplingandNational
environmentalauthoritiesareresponsibleforcontrollingthe
fulfilmentoftheDirective.TheisaEUreportevery2yearscalled
Q15(thatcompilestheresultsfrom2013-2014anditisthelatest,
nextwillbeq17thatwillbepublishon2018).
Fulfilment of the Directive

9. WhichistheBF criteria?
Criterion 9. Industrial, waste-water or sewage-related discharges must
not affect the beach area.
[…]Thecollection,treatmentanddischargeofurbanwastewaterinthe
communitymustmeetnational/internationalstandardsandcomplywith
national/internationallegislation.ForthecountriesinEU,thereare
requirementsforthetreatmentandeffluentqualitygivenintheEUUrban
WasteWaterTreatmentDirective(91/271/EEC).
How do NO check the fulfilment of
this criterion?

10. SPANISH CASE
For each urban agglomeration and each waste water treatment plant, the
municipality must fulfill the following chart:
Name of the urban agglomeration
Number of population equivalent
Name of the wastewater treatment plant
Doesit discharge to coastal waters?Yes No
Is there a submarine pipeline?
How long is it?
Does it discharge to inlandwaters? Yes No
Name of the river
Is thedischarging point further
than 2 km from the coast?
Does thisurban agglomeration affect
a BF candidate beach?

11. SPANISH CASE
-We request municipalities to attach a certificate for each waste
water treatment plan from the responsible person that states
whether the waste water plant fulfills the Directive.
-Our National Jury can look deeper into those municipalities and
those urban agglomerations that do not fulfill the Directive.
-What if the municipality does not comply with the Directive in
some urban agglomerations that do not affect a Blue Flag
candidate beach?

12. Back to whichistheBF criteria?
Criterion 9. Industrial, waste-water or sewage-related discharges must
not affect the beach area.
Itisrecommendedthatthereshouldnotbeanydischargeofindustrial,urban
wastewaterorsewage-relateddischargesintotheBlueFlagareaor
immediatebufferzone/surroundingarea.Intheeventthattherearedischarge
pointsintheareaofthebeach,thesemustbedocumentedatthetimeof
application.
Wemustbearinmindthattherearesewagedischargesthatdonotgo
throughawastewatertreatmentplant.Someareauthorisedandsomeare
not.