Monitoring of UWWTPs and Reporting in Germany, Nicosia, 17 February 2005 1 Control and Monitoring of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Plants and Data Reporting

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Monitoring of UWWTPs and Reporting in Germany, Nicosia, 17 February 2005

Control and Monitoring of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Plants

and Data Reporting in Germany

Regina Kohlmeyer, Joachim Heidemeier Federal Environmental Agency, Berlin, Germany

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Legal implementation of UWWTD 91/271/EEC via ...

Federal level Waste Water Ordinance *

* see: http://www.bmu.de/files/wastewater_ordinance.pdf

Framework• technical requirements,• minimum emission

standards

Legal Background

Germany

• Federal system: Distribution of competences, responsibilities and public functions between Federation, 16 Federal States and municipalities.

• Population about 80 million inhabitants.

Federal States 16 „Länder“ Ordinances Additional regulations• monitoring frequencies,• definition of additional

legal termsEnforcement

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General UWWT Situation in Germany

• Predominantly catchment area of sensitive area (Baltic Sea and North Sea); Danube catchment „normal“.

• High connection rate:- all Germany 93%- „Old Federal States“ 96%- „New Federal States“ (former GDR) 76%

Urban waste water treatment plantsSize Category Number of

UWWTPs Total Capacity [million p.e.]

> 100 000 p.e. 237 73.6

> 10 000 – 100 000 p.e. 1 860 59.0

2 000 – 10 000 p.e. 2 587 12.4

> 50 – < 2 000 p.e. 5 510 2.8

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Development of public wastewater treatment in Germany (% population)

10

30

20

40

19

32

19

30

44

20

15

21

57

19

10

14

72

10

6,6

11,4

81,3

5,24,2

9,3

87,3

2,237,5

56,9

33

2,126

9,2

26,2

24,2

15,4

25

47,6

30,3

7,4

5,3

9,4

72,2

12,3

4,13,67,8

83,1

6,31,627

88

4,70,21,75,4

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1957 1963 1969 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1991 1991 1995 1998 2001

not connected to publicsewerage system

not treated in public sewageworks

mechanical treatment

biological treatment

biological treatment includednutrient treatment

old Länder

new Länder

D in total

remarks: up to 1987 no separate recording of biological and nutrient treatment.

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Monitoring ConceptMonitoring aspect

Reference method: UWWTD, Annex I D.2-5.

German method, equivalent according to Annex I D.1:

German Waste Water Ordinance

Sampling

Type Flow proportional or time-based 24-hour-samples

Qualified random samples or 2-hour composite samples

Frequency 12 / 24 samples per annum 6 samples per annum Compliance provision

COD, BOD About 90% of samples not exceeding

Nitrogen, Phosphorus

Annual mean

All 4 out of 5 samples not exceeding para- the limit value direct yes/no- meters decision of each analysis

Parameter

All parameters Full standardized measurement procedure

Screening measurement in general; full standardized measurement procedure only in the range of the limit value

Nitrogen Total nitrogen: the sum of Kjeldahl-nitrogen (organic N + NH3), nitrate- and nitrite-nitrogen

Total inorganic nitrogen: the sum of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen

Emission standards (examples) COD COD: 125 mg/L COD: 110 / 90 / 75mg/L

depending on the size of the UWWTP

Nitrogen N: 15 / 10 mg/L agglom. > 10 000 p.e. / > 100 000 p.e. in sensitive area

N: 18 / 13 mg/L UWWTP > 10 000 / > 100 000 p.e. in normal and sensitive areas

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Monitoring Concept - Motivation

Why does Germany apply an alternative UWWTP monitoring method?

• German monitoring concept had been established, before UWWTD came into force.

• Waste Water Ordinance sets minimum requirements for urban and industrial waste water (more than 50 Appendices for different source categories) Same system of requirements, monitoring and control for urban and industrial waste water.

• Quick decision (direct yes/no-decision of each analysis), no averaging, easy enforcement.

• 6 samples per annum sufficient.

• Government analyses are complemented by UWWTP self-checking.

• Study of Pöpel et al. (1996): German method is equivalent to UWWTD method.

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Key:National requirements to the nitrogen removal according to Art. 7a Federal Water Act – Requirements of Annex 1 of the Waste Water Ordinance (as amended, in force from 1 August 2002)

in conformity conformity is being checked not yet in conformity, adjustment is in process

German UWWTPs > 100 000 p.e.

Conformity with the national requirements of the Waste Water Ordinance

(equal requirements for sensitive and normal areas)

Source: Summarized situation report Germany 2003 (Art. 16 UWWTD)

Monitoring Performance

Catchment areas sensitive areas normal areas rivers

Reference date: 31 Dec 2002Data source: Federal States of Germany

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Reporting – Data Management

• Heterogeneous IT systems

established in Federal States:

from legacy mainframe

databases to excel sheets

Flexible import module necessary.

• Federal structure

Data collection and

aggregation of at least 3 levels.

• Enforcement databases are not

designed for COM reporting

Check of data availability to

provide the information needed

• Data transfer to COM via transfer file

EU level

Germany

Federal level

Federal States

Counties, Municipalities

Operators

...

...

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Art. 15(4) Reporting 1999 - First steps

Interpretation of UWWTD terminology

1) Translation of the UWWTD terminology to the terminology used in German implementation regulations.

Example: Term „Agglomeration“German translation „Gemeinde“ means both „agglomeration“ and „municipality“ – municipalities are responsible for waste water collection and treatment

Approach 1: „Agglomeration“ = catchment of UWWTP (1 agglo. : 1 UWWTP)

Approach 2: „Agglomeration“ = contiguous housing (building law)

Consequence: two different data transfer applications necessary

2) Definition of substitutes for missing data

Example: „Nominal load“ of an agglomeration

„Nominal load“ not available in several Federal States

Substitute: Organic Design Capacity * utilisation ratio of UWWTP

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• IT development for internal data collection:UDIS UWWT-application, based on „UDIS“ system

• „UDIS“: tool to facilitate reporting – tool box and application

• Runs on Windows, Unix, Mac

• Supports several databases (ACCESS, Oracle, Informix)

• Flexible csv-Import (new version also XML)

• Powerful query tool

IT solution: UDIS

page name

master data of agglomeration

navigation

switch: list / form view

filter

master data of UWWTP COD/ BOD data

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UDIS system – Query tool

tree structure of data fields

buttons to insert data fields in query or delete them

list of data fields with conditions of query

start query

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Reporting – Experience

• Responsibility for Art. 15(4) reporting: permanent working group

on international reporting on waste water discharges

(technical experts from Federal level and Federal States)

• Time frame of first Art. 15(4) reporting:

6 months required --- 9 months estimated --- 15 months needed

• Quality assurance is a multi-stage process,

beginning from the data-holder level:

check for completeness, plausibility,

indicators for compliance,

time needed for quality improvement

• Result: Effective compilation of reliable Art. 15(4) data.

Experience used for other reporting processes (EPER).

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Summary

• Germany

• Competences shared between Federal level + 16 Federal States

• more than 4 000 agglomerations > 2 000 p.e.

• Monitoring

• Concept equivalent to Annex ID of UWWTD

• Reporting

• Heterogeneous IT systems established in Federal States

• Development of IT solution for data collection:

UDIS UWWT-application with flexible import (csv, XML)

• Important: Clear responsibilities, quality assurance

Documents

Monitoring of UWWTPs and Reporting in Germany, Nicosia, 17 February 2005 1 Control and Monitoring of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Plants and Data Reporting