Master Plan for urban wastewater treatment plants in Greece

Technical assistance for preparing a Master Plan for urban wastewater treatment plants in Greece serving agglomeration with p.e. greater than 2000 – Programme for the restoration of the operation of constructed but inactive WWTPs – Technical assistance to competent authorities in the implementation process for the needed actions

Highlights

The number of agglomerations for medium (5000-10000 p.e.) and smaller (2000-5000 p.e.) sized populations is high adding up to 337 agglomerations, with more than 60% lacking wastewater infrastructure, highlighting the big challenge for the years to come with respect to the construction of wastewater infrastructure projects.

The achievement of institutional requirements under Directive 91/271/EEC with respect to the construction of wastewater infrastructure should be combined with regular monitoring and promotion of their efficient operation.

Links

National Database for UWWTPs in Greece
Urban Waste Water Treatment maps of the EEA.

Challenge

Wastewater management in Greece is being regulated by the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD). Many WWTPs were constructed during the last 30 years and the current challenge lies on the efficient operation of these works along with the need to fulfil the obligations set in the Directive with projects that are related to areas with p.e. less than 10.000.

The main challenge is to meet the provisions of the UWWTD not for big and medium sized agglomerations, but for the numerous smaller agglomerations that even now lack the basic wastewater infrastructure. Nevertheless, it is also challenging to efficiently operate these projects and meet the continuous environmental challenges.

Approach

The project includes three main parts:

PART I. Determination of total number of WWTPs that will be constructed with financing by the Ministry of Environment at 4th Programmatic Period (2007-2013) and more specifically:

Determine the number of central WWTPs that qualify as the optimal solution for the treatment of wastewater of two or more neighbouring agglomerations in comparison to construction of autonomous WWTPs,
Determine the number of agglomerations for which the connection with existing WWTPs is the optimum technico-economical solution
Determine the number of agglomerations for which the construction of autonomous WWTPs is the optimum technico-economical solution.

The determination of the number of central WWTPs, the autonomous WWTPs and the proposed connections with existing WWTPs will be made after investigation of alternative solutions with technico-economical criteria.

PART II. The establishment of a restoration plan for the WWTPs which remain inactive, which includes the evaluation of the existing situation of the WWTPs with on-site visits, the auditing of a construction study and financial records, the estimation of the needed actions and the relevant cost for restoration of the plant.

PART III. Technical assistance to competent authorities in the implementation process for the needed actions.

Impact

Integrated wastewater management is a great challenge for the successful environmental protection not only through the big projects, but also with the implementation of infrastructure serving smaller communities. The project identified the required works for wastewater collection and treatment in Greece, thus providing a road map for the needed actions.