BEST

The project BEST enhanced collaboration among local water utilities, wastewater treatment plants, industrial companies, and local environmental authorities to ensure more efficient management of industrial sewage in the Baltic Sea region and ultimately protect the environment.

The challenge

Industrial wastewaters are a considerable challenge for municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as they require special treatment and management. Industrial wastewater differs from domestic wastewater due to factors such as its high solid contents, hazardous substances, and higher and fluctuating volumes. Municipal WWTPs were originally designed to treat only domestic sewage and not water with abnormal contents, such as industrial wastewater. Therefore, industrial wastewater could seriously harm the treatment process and its efficiency if it is not handled correctly.

Such a discharge could cause capacity and safety problems at WWTPs, inhibition of the biological treatment process steps, and the pollution of wastewater sludge, which prevents recycling and further use. Even modern and efficiently functioning domestic wastewater management at municipal WWTPs may be endangered by uncontrollable industrial wastewater discharges. Ultimately, such problems can lead to higher discharges of nutrients and harmful substances into the natural environment.

BEST – Better Efficiency for Industrial Sewage worked to improve the treatment of industrial wastewaters across the Baltic Sea region and consequently reduce a load of nutrients and hazardous substances entering the Baltic Sea.

Budgets

BEST
in numbers

3.40

Million

Total
2.67

Million

Erdf
0.10

Million

Eni + Russia
0.00

Million

Norway

Achievements

Assessing industrial wastewater management in the region

Currently, data and information regarding the treatment of industrial effluents entering municipal WWTPs are scattered in different countries and organisations across the Baltic Sea region. There is not any comprehensive and comparative analysis of the available data.

Thus, the BEST project has created an overview of the situation in the Baltic Sea region on the EU level and national legislation regulating indirect wastewater discharges from industries, identifying the main polluting sectors in each country, and their possible impacts on the treatment processes at the municipal WWTPs.

The partners collected information about national legislation by interviewing experts in countries across the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia, project partners identified 2 to 3 industrial sectors of specific concern and interviewed both individual companies and associations in these industrial sectors (the food, dairy, brewery, mining, petroleum, chemicals, surface treatment and waste handling).

These interviews gave information about the regulation of industrial wastewater and cooperation between the industrial facility and the municipal wastewater treatment plant receiving the effluents.

Joining forces for better treatment of industrial effluents

Good cooperation ensures the timely exchange of information and quick response to malfunction situations. The BEST project demonstrated how regular communication results in better process control and co-treatment of industrial effluents and reduces the loading of nutrients and hazardous substances to the Baltic Sea.

Project partners developed local cooperation models to improve the management of wastewater and collaboration between WWTP, industries, and supervising authorities. They arranged local planning meetings, joint learning, and information exchange sessions as well as on-site visits. International capacity development events were used as a platform to plan, report, evaluate and develop these local practices.

Examples of successful cooperation models

For instance, project partners in Adaži municipality (Latvia) created cooperation models between the local wastewater treatment plant and its industrial customers representing mainly the food industry. The result was the development of a communication model and WWTP process management scheme, including a risk assessment procedure.

In Poland, project partners carried out an analysis of industries conveying wastewater to the Municipal Water and Sewerage Company (MPWiK) WWTPs by combining various data sources. The on-site inspections and wastewater sampling by MPWiK worked well as a preventive measure. However, the actual stream of industrial liquid waste transported to septage receiving stations with vacuum trucks caused concerns. MPWiK was advised to provide more information on the procedure of connecting industrial wastewater suppliers and make industrial wastewater suppliers more aware of their duties associated with discharging this type of wastewater to the MPWiK sewage system.

Outputs

Assessment report: management of industrial wastewaters in the region

The assessment report compiles the existing situation on industrial wastewater management in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. It shows the current technical practices used, describes the legislation in the different countries (EU level, national implementation and HELCOM recommendations), demonstrates various co-operation models among the water utility, the industry and the environmental authority, and also spotlights the overall and national bottlenecks.

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Guidelines for the management of industrial wastewaters and the Policy Brief

The document provides guidance to legislative, permitting and supervising authorities, and water utilities affected by industrial wastewaters as well as industrial operators conveying industrial wastewater to the sewer. It also identifies the most important obstacles for the successful implementation of existing legislation and best practices, as well as the possible solutions to overcome these obstacles. The document includes national key recommendations separately for Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland. In addition, the Policy Brief gives a summary of the guidelines with targeted actions for industrial operators, environmental authorities, wastewater treatment plants and policymakers.

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Report on local cooperation models

This report summarises the development process in selecting models for testing. It presents how Leszno water utility (Poland), Doruchow Commune (Poland), Latvijas Piens dairy company (Latvia), E-Piim dairy company (Estonia), and Põltsamaa water utility (Estonia) developed their wastewater management in dialogue and cooperation with municipal water utility staff, industrial companies discharging effluents to the municipal WWTP, or local/regional permitting and monitoring authorities.

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Toolbox of best practices in industrial wastewater management

Toolbox gathers best practices concerning industrial wastewater management and consists of six subject areas: automation and monitoring, cooperation, education and training, phosphorus recovery, pre-treatment practices and methods for industries and utilisation of sludge. The toolbox presents a learning package for organisations involved in wastewater management, including wastewater treatment plants, industries, non-governmental organisations, consultants and environmental authorities around the Baltic Sea region. It guides on how to improve the management of industrial wastewaters in the organisations´ daily operations.

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Technologies to improve treatment of industrial wastewater

The project piloted fermentation installation at the wastewater treatment plant in Leszno (Poland). The knowledge gained through piloting can be applied in other sewage treatment plants in the Baltic Sea region to identify the contents of industrial effluents, their impact on sludge treatment and energy production. The technology helps to identify the optimal capacity and strategy for wastewater treatment plants to receive industrial effluents and sludge. Another technology piloted in Doruchów (Poland) is phosphorus filtering system for nutrient recovery. The technology investment has proved a significant reduction of phosphorus in wastewater and possibilities for re-use of the recovered phosphorus in agriculture. Besides, a new balancing tank was built for a dairy factory in Põltsamaa (Estonia) to stabilise and improve the treatment results. Together with the monitoring device installed and positioned where the plant discharges its industrial wastewater, the technologies helped to regulate the industrial load from E-Piim to the wastewater treatment plant. Additionally, the pre-treatment installation dairy company in Jelgava (Latvia) enabled to reduce nutrient load to the wastewater. The technology ensures a significant reduction in pollution of groundwater, local water bodies, and the Baltic Sea. The tested technology can be relatively simply adjusted to the majority of dairy factories to improve the water quality in the region.

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