Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts SEMA ist die Prognosequalität eines Alterungsmodells anhand der TV-Inspektionsdaten der Stadt Braunschweig geprüft worden. Die Qualität der Prognose wurde auf der Grundlage einer Probe von 35.826 Inspektionen bewertet. Die Inspektionen wurden mittels eines substanzbasierten Modells klassifiziert. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde das statistische Modell KANEW-Z angewandt, um die Kanalalterung zu simulieren. Der Vergleich der Inspektions- mit den Simulationsergebnissen zeigt, dass das Modell in der Lage ist, die Zustandsverteilung des Systems ziemlich genau wiederzugeben. Die Ergebnisse sind auch ermutigend auf individueller Haltungsebene. Im Allgemeinen zeigt das Alterungsmodell viel bessere Ergebnisse als ein einfaches lineares Alterungsmodell. Schlussfolgernd unterstreichen die Ergebnisse das Interesse und den potentiellen Nutzen der Anwendung von Alterungsmodellen zur Unterstützung von Asset-Management-Strategien.

This paper reports about experiences gathered from five on-line monitoring campaigns in the sewer systems of Berlin (Germany), Graz (Austria), Lyon (France) and Bogota (Colombia) using UV-VIS spectrometers and turbidimeters. The influence of local calibration on the quality of on-line COD measurements of wet weather discharges has been assessed. Results underline the need to establish local calibration functions for both UV-VIS spectrometers and turbidimeters. It is suggested to practitioners to calibrate locally their probes using at least 15-20 samples. However, these samples should be collected over several events and cover most of the natural variability of the measured concentration. For this reason, the use of automatic peristaltic samplers in parallel to on-line monitoring is recommended with short representative sampling campaigns during wet weather discharges. Using reliable calibration functions, COD loads of CSO and storm events can be estimated with a relative uncertainty of approximately 20 %. If no local calibration is established, concentrations and loads are estimated with strong errors questioning the reliability and meaning of the on-line measurement. Similar results have been obtained for TSS measurements.

Several infrastructure studies highlight the ongoing deterioration of critical assets in water and wastewater systems (WERF, 2007). A recent survey among 397 water and wastewater industry participants in the U.S.A. and Canada highlights that aging infrastructure and the management of capital and operational costs are the two main industry issues (Black and Veatch, 2013). From the participants, more than 70% of municipalities and utilities have already implemented condition assessment and inspection programs to assess the condition state of their systems. However, less than 10% are currently using simulation tools to support their asset management strategies. These results underline the strong opportunity for municipalities and utilities to increase the efficiency of their asset management programs by extracting the value of their (already) available data. Several modeling approaches are now available but not commonly used by sewer operators to support strategies (Caradot et al., 2013). Indeed, most of these models still fail to show that they can adequately forecast future conditions (Ana and Bauwens, 2010; Scheidegger et al., 2011). This article presents an assessment of the ability of sewer deterioration models to simulate the condition distribution of sewer networks. The analysis has been done using the extensive CCTV dataset of a German city, Braunschweig.

This article presents an assessment of the quality of prediction of a Markov-based statistical sewer deterioration model using the extensive CCTV dataset of a German city, Braunschweig. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to assess the influence of input data availability on model performance. Results indicate that models are able to simulate quite accurately the condition distribution of the network with deviations smaller than 1%. Results also indicate that the performance of deterioration models is quite independent of the amount of CCTV data available to calibrate the model. Even when using very few data (˜3%, i.e. 1000 inspections) to calibrate the model, very good model performance can be obtained.This article presents an assessment of the quality of prediction of a Markov-based statistical sewer deterioration model using the extensive CCTV dataset of a German city, Braunschweig. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to assess the influence of input data availability on model performance. Results indicate that models are able to simulate quite accurately the condition distribution of the network with deviations smaller than 1%. Results also indicate that the performance of deterioration models is quite independent of the amount of CCTV data available to calibrate the model. Even when using very few data (˜3%, i.e. 1000 inspections) to calibrate the model, very good model performance can be obtained.

Whether or not there will be a phosphorus (P) peak within decades, centuries or millennia, (Cordell and White, 2011; Scholz and Wellmer, 2013) one thing is for sure – phosphorus is a limited and, in its function as a nutrient, an essential and irreplaceable resource (Asimov, 1959; Smil, 2000; Filippelli, 2008). The debate on P limitation is often mentioned as motivation to foster activities regarding P recovery and recycling. The ambition of the European Commission (EC) to establish a circular economy in Europe goes far beyond that and is not primarily motivated by limitations of certain raw materials. From the European perspective and in the light of having just one small mine in Finland, the geopolitics and economic vulnerability are issues to be taken seriously. Europe is highly dependent on phosphorus imports (De Ridder et al., 2012) as reflected by the quantities given in figure 1. In contrast to the above mentioned issues, the waste and dissipation of phosphorus that exists in developed countries may lead to a different conclusion. The global resource efficiency for P along the supply chain from mine to fork is only 20% (Schröder et al., 2010). Given the figures of 225 million tons P rock globally mined in 2013 (USGS, 2015) and assuming that 90% of the mined P is used for food production, only 45 million tons of the mined quantity finally ends up in form of food on our tables. So, what can we do to increase the resource efficiency of P? Recently, the implementation of a coherent package of nutrient management strategies and measures to close the European P cycle has been proposed – the 5R strategy (Withers et al., 2015). The five R’s are Realign P inputs, Reduce P losses to waters, Recycle P in bio-resources, Recover P from waste and finally Redefine our food system. So, recovery and recycling can play an important role in improving resource efficiency and sustainable nutrient management. Although, there are various relevant waste streams carrying huge quantities of phosphorus dissolved in liquids or fixed in solids like in manure or organic waste, the focus of P-REX was laid upon P recovery and recycling from wastewater and sewage sludge.

This report provides the reader with an overview of assessment methodologies used within DEMOWARE and the specific features when using QMRA, QCRA, LCA, and WFP approach for the assessment of water reuse systems. For the actual application of LCA and water footprint databases and assessment software is needed. Therefore, three complementing goals shall be achieved: (i) to provide practitioners with the principles, methods and limitations of QMRA, QCRA, LCA and WFP (ii) to provide LCA, WFP, RA practitioners with additional information when using the respective method for the assessment of water reuse systems. For QMRA a summary of guidelines and default values is collected from different guidelines documents (WHO, Australia, US-EPA), which allow a first simplified and thus user friendly risk estimate.

Die vorliegende wissenschaftliche Studie untersucht Potenziale und Grenzen der Hydrothermalen Karbonisierung (HTC) von entwässertem Klärschlamm zur Verbesserung der Energie- und Klimabilanz der Klärschlammentsorgung in Berlin. Für vier Berliner Klärwerke wurden Laborversuche zur HTC mit entwässertem Klärschlamm durchgeführt, um die Produkte HTC-Filtrat und hochentwässerter Klärschlamm zu charakterisieren. Mit diesen Daten und den Prozessangaben des HTC-Anbieters Terranova wurden Energieund Treibhausgasbilanzen für vier Klärwerke erstellt, die neben dem Referenzzustand 2013 für verschiedene Entsorgungswege auch die Implementierung eines HTC-Prozesses vorsehen. Abschließend wurde das HTC-Verfahren in einem technischen Pilotversuch mit zwei Berliner Klärschlämmen getestet und ebenfalls bilanziert. Die Laborversuche bestätigten die hohe Belastung des HTC-Filtrats mit CSB und N. Die organische Fracht im HTC-Filtrat zeigt im Biomethantest gute anaerobe Abbaubarkeit und einen entsprechenden Faulgasertrag. Der verbleibende CSB ist noch weiter aerob abbaubar (Zahn-Wellens-Test), so dass letztlich zwischen 1-14% der CSB-Fracht im Filtrat (7,4-14,5 g/L) als refraktär angesehen werden. Eine merkliche Rücklösung von Phoshor und Schwermetallen lässt sich erst bei stark sauren Bedingungen während der HTC (pH < 3) feststellen. Die Pilotversuche mit Klärschlamm aus Waßmannsdorf und Münchehofe in der Anlage des Anbieters Terranova konnten aufgrund von Problemen bei der Klärschlammaufgabe nicht kontinuierlich durchgeführt werden. Zudem wurde bei der abschließenden Entwässerung nicht der hohe prognostizierte TR-Gehalt im Klärschlamm erreicht (> 65% TR). Damit bleiben erhebliche Zweifel an der Betriebsstabilität und den prognostizierten Entwässerungsergebnissen bestehen. Die Energie- und Klimabilanz auf Basis der Labordaten und Herstellerangaben zeigt, dass die Einführung eines HTC-Prozesses für alle betrachteten Szenarien deutliche Vorteile bieten kann. Dabei spielt vor allem der erhöhte Faulgasertrag aus dem Prozesswasser (+16-19%) und der hohe Heizwert des hochentwässerten Klärschlamms eine Rolle. Die zusätzlichen Aufwendungen für den Prozess (Erdgas, Strom, Säure) und die höhere Rückbelastung des Klärwerks werden durch die Gutschriften ausgeglichen. Die Abwärme für den HTC-Prozess ist auf allen Klärwerken mit Faulung zu über 90% vorhanden, im Klärwerk Ruhleben sollte dazu eine separate Faulstufe für das HTC-Filtrat vorgesehen werden. Die Bilanzierung auf Basis der Daten aus den Pilotversuchen zeigt jedoch, dass die Vorteile der HTC deutlich geringer ausfallen, wenn Faulgasertrag im Filtrat und Entwässerbarkeit nicht erreicht werden. Der refraktäre CSB aus dem HTC-Filtrat kann im Ablauf der Klärwerke maximal zu einer Erhöhung des CSB-Ablaufwerts von 7-12 mg/L führen, was bei einzelnen Klärwerken eine Überschreitung der Überwachungswerte zur Folge haben kann. Dieser Aspekt ist bei der weiteren Betrachtung des HTC-Verfahrens unbedingt zu berücksichtigen. Eine Kombination von Phosphorrückgewinnung und HTC lässt sich über eine Rückgewinnung aus der Asche der Monoverbrennung oder eine vorgeschaltete P-Extraktion erreichen. Die abgeschätzten Betriebskosten der HTC-Anlage können ggf. durch Einsparungen bei der Schlammentsorgung ausgeglichen werden, wobei die Investitionskosten für eine HTC-Anlage noch unbekannt sind.

The La Vall d’Uixó (Spain) pilot site has been selected by DEMEAU because it is a new Aquifer Storage Transfer and Recovery (ASTR) site consisting of two injection wells surrounded by farmer wells for irrigation in a water scarce area. Potential water source for this MAR site is the effluent of the local WWTP, which is a quite constant water source in terms of availability, but gives concerns in terms of water quality. The investigations carried out within DEMEAU supports the work previously done by the Water Recovery Project (2011 – 2014), coordinated by IGME (Instituto Geológico y Minero de España) and UJI (Universitat Jaume I). The Water Recovery Project consists of different implementation phases and aimed to establish an appropriate MAR scheme with reclaimed wastewater to counteract salinity ingress in the coastal aquifer. In the third phase of the project two injection wells have recharged 310,000 m3 with water from the Belcaire River. To foster the implementation of the fourth and final phase of the Water Recovery Project, DEMEAU focused on the evaluation of the effluent of the local WWTP as source water for the ASTR system. This has been done by three sampling campaigns to analyse bulk chemistry, emerging pollutants and bioassays in native groundwater (six agricultural wells), Belcaire River (the current source water of the MAR scheme) and WWTP effluent (potential future source water). Risk assessment based on Australian MAR guidelines have been applied to evaluate risks related to the usage of WWTP effluent as source water. The Australian guidelines have been applied in two steps: entry level assessment and maximal risk assessment. Entry level assessment concluded that La Vall d’Uixó is suitable for a MAR scheme using reclaimed water, while maximal risk assessment identified hazards associated to reclaimed water as source water. As La Vall d’Uixó is an agricultural area of citrus crops, the use of reclaimed water for the injection in the MAR system must be compatible with the use of recovered water for irrigation. The risk assessment done in this report considered this end use of water, as there are no drinking water wells in the area. High risks have been identified for inorganic chemicals (conductivity, chloride and bicarbonate) and nutrients (nitrate). Risks associated to inorganics can be minimized by mixing effluent and Belcaire River water 1:1. Bulk chemistry coincided mainly with the description carried out in Water Recovery project, identifying two main quality problems in native groundwater: (1) salinity ingress (2) high nitrate concentration due to the intensive agricultural practices in the area. Ion displacement pattern in groundwater samples clearly indicates on-going salinization and documents minor effects of the injected water on few wells only. Cl/Br ratios indicate additional sources of chloride apart from seawater. It seems plausible that the underlying Keuper formations (Triassic) contribute to salinity ingress and SO4 excess in groundwater to some extent. Chlorides and nitrate are regulated by the implementation in Spain of the EU Water Framework Directive for the Castellón aquifer. The threshold value for nitrate is 200 mg/L, while the threshold value for chloride is 650 mg/L. WWTP effluent has nitrate and chlorides below the threshold concentrations (60 mg/L and 140 mg/L respectively) and, therefore, the MAR with reclaimed water would suppose a reduction of groundwater pollution and a step towards a qualitative good status in the aquifer. In total 63 organic micro pollutants have been analysed in groundwater, surface water and WWTP effluent. WWTP effluent shows elevated concentrations in almost all groups of organic micro pollutants compared to river- or groundwater. Only pesticides are found in higher concentrations in groundwater compared to the effluent. The Belcaire River shows the lowest concentrations for all groups of micro pollutants. It was shown that the Vall d’Uixó aquifer is contaminated by various organic micro pollutants and does not reflect a near natural aquifer condition. The aquifer chemistry in terms of organic micro pollutants reflects the usage of (untreated) effluent for direct irrigation over years. Elevated concentration of artificial sweeteners, analgesics, stimulants, caffeine metabolites and cocaine metabolites were found in WWTP samples taken during weekends compared to workday samples. In contrast, iopromide has been quantified in higher concentrations in the effluent of WWTP in work days than in the weekend, as this contrast media is used in hospitals for diagnostic tests normally carried out from Monday to Friday. These patterns of the effluent of WWTP during the week of weekend could be determinant for the selection of the working days as most suitable days to store treated waste water. In order to link analysed chemical concentrations to the observed toxicity in the samples a procedure based on bioassay-specific relative potency (REP) factors was applied. REP factors are determined by the effect concentrations of the reference compound and of the test compound. Despite the lack of toxicological data for a number of the selected target compounds and the lower relevance of the selected compounds for (eco)toxicological risk assessment, this study greatly demonstrate the usefulness of combined analyses of environmental samples. Effect-based methods could complement conventional chemical analysis in water quality monitoring as pre-screening techniques by (1) identifying toxic “hotspots” for further investigation, (2) assessing the effect of the entire mixture of compounds present in waters and therefore and (3) reduce uncertainty in safety evaluation.

The practice of using the wastewater of the city of Braunschweig for irrigation on the surface areas of the Braunschweig Wastewater Association, over decades, starting in 1954, has changed from being a disposal of raw wastewater to a sprinkle irrigation of biologically treated wastewater including the use of the nutrients from sewage sludge. Future requirements on the disinfection of wastewater and also the expansion of agricultural crop growing portfolios could require the installation of a wastewater disinfection system. For this various processes have been tested in pilot trials. Generally, UV disinfection with long project run times and high average usage of the processing capacity are advantageous whereas short project run times or a lower utilisation of the maximum capacity rather favour a dosing of performic acid. A near-natural secondary treatment on the other hand proved itself to be not reliable enough.