QUO-VADIS WATER-QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN-EUROPE

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are going through unique political, economic, institutional, and social changes associated with the heritage of serious pollution problems from the past. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the water quality management strategies C EE countries may take including the rationale of introducing Western p olicies in the short run. The policy to be selected must be viable und er the existing pressing financial conditions and should feasibly be e xpanded towards a long-term sustainable scenario as economy improves. As a basis the present economic, social, and institutional setting is outlined, and the stare of water quality and the role of emissions of various origins are summarized. A special focus is devoted to municipa lities with low and unbalanced levels of infrastructure; the developme nt of these infrastructures could be aburden even for stable economies . An overview and evaluation are given for the water supply, sewerage, and wastewater treatment for urban areas with populations greater tha n 25,000 in five countries of the CEE region together with a discussio n of legislation issues. Major elements of cost-effective development strategies are discussed and illustrated by examples. They incorporate improved demand management and the closing of material cycles, the up grading of wastewater treatment facilities to match the level of sewer age, the application of regionally variable effluent (and/or ambient) water quality standards and their gradual tightening based on a river basin approach, the innovative selection of combined chemical-biologic al technologies (for both upgrading and new design) depending on local conditions and the multi-stage development of wastewater treatment pl ants. The policy suggested for the next couple of decades is character ized by a number of non-uniformities which raises considerable impleme ntation challenges.