Wastewater management in the Danube Basin

In the framework of the Environmental Program for the Danube River Basin fi nanced by the PHARE-program of the EC-Commission the study,Nutrient Balance s for Danube Countries" was carried out by the Department of Water and Wast ewater Engineering of the Budapest University of Technology and the Institu te for Water Quality and Waste Management of the Vienna University of Techn ology, Expert teams from seven further countries from the Danube Basin comp leted the team for the project, A crucial part of this study was the evalua tion of the present situation of wastewater management of the different cou ntries and the evaluation of future strategies for wastewater management in the context of nutrient balances. This paper presents the developed method ology for wastewater management and the results of its application to the D anube catchment. The major conclusions of the study are: to postpone sewer construction unless hygienic reasons and/or drinking water protection requi re it and to aim at upgrading treatment efficiency; an ambient water qualit y principle requires high treatment efficiency in many cases and by introdu cing nutrient removal at municipal wastewater treatment plants about 20% of the total nutrient emissions to surface waters can be removed. (C) 1998 IA WQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.