New journal article: Protecting the Baltic Sea demands unified data collection and reporting across borders
02 December 2024
During the summer months, the coastal regions surrounding the Baltic Sea experience a significant influx of tourists, which amounts to up to 20 times more than local residents. The wastewater infrastructure is normally planned with a safety margin, but in many places, once designed 30–50 years ago, it did not account for the increasing trend of tourists’ seasonal flows, as happens in other regions of Europe with high tourist density.
The study reveals significant seasonal fluctuations in wastewater flow due to tourism, making it hard to meet environmental standards and posing risks to both ecosystems and the tourism industry. By compiling a GIS-based inventory of small treatment plants, the project uncovered wide disparities in data management, regulations, and standards across the region. The findings emphasize the need for harmonized data collection and reporting methods and propose a unified, accessible database to support better wastewater management, environmental protection, and tourism satisfaction.
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There is neither no treatment data available for WWTPs < 2000 PE in all the project’s countries nor data about the number of small WWTPs.
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Legislation varies in the different project countries because EU legislation does not cover WWTPs < 2000 PE. Treatment requirements vary country by country regarding WWTPs < 2000 PE.
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There is no sufficient information about the environmental load of the small WWTPs—small WWTS may contribute significantly to the nutrient load of the Baltic Sea, especially locally.
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The spatial, analytical, and legal analysis of WWTPs across BSR countries uncovered many discrepancies in data accessibility and collection, spatial distribution of the WWTPs, effluent standards, and technological solutions. This could be a good starting point for the local authorities to improve these aspects for the safer management of excess nutrients in the near-coast touristic regions.
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Local authorities should better monitor the inflow of newly occurring construction permits or residential investments without such a permit in order to quantify the potential excess of wastewater in the touristic regions.
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Local authorities should also develop individual monitoring plans for WWTPs <2000 PE where tourist flows are not taken into account when planning the wastewater infrastructure, which was often done 30–50 years ago when the tourist sector was not well developed, and people could not afford long holidays.
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Local authorities should stay in touch with wastewater specialists who could redesign or add plug-in technology to the existing WWTP in order to meet the challenges resulting from seasonal flow and load fluctuations of the wastewater in the summer season.
Authors:
Citation:
Konkol, I., Kuligowski, K., Szafranowicz, P., Vorne, V., Reinikainen, A., Effelsberg, N., … & Cenian, A. (2024). Review of the Seasonal Wastewater Challenges in Baltic Coastal Tourist Areas: Insights from the NURSECOAST-II Project. Sustainability, 16(22), 9890.
details
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Homepage
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Project typeCore Project
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ImplementationJanuary 2023 - December 2025
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StatusOngoing
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Contribution to EUSBSRPolicy Area Nutri, Policy Area Tourism
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Target groups
- Infrastructure and public service provider
- Local public authority
- Regional public authority
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