Conlusions

Scientific Content

The main purpose of the workshop was: (a) to provide an opportunity for increasing the awareness and providing an overview of recent advances in the field of municipal water supply and wastewater treatment practiced in diverse conditions of the participating countries, and (b) to promote close co-operation among scientists from the participating countries. The general objective was bring together scientists from NATO and Partner countries and to communicate knowledge of issues related to lowering the risk of failure and malfunctioning of the water supply / wastewater treatment systems, by application of advanced methods of the water treatment, rational water management aiming to enhance environmental sustainability, and also by considering other important issues in this field. The topic covered the issues of security of water resources and their protection, challenges of water reuse and recycling, as well as urban drainage problems connected with wastewater treatment and controlled transmission of various chemical agents through water cycle. This was achieved by the ARW technical program containing paper and poster presentations, and extensive discussions. For practical reasons, the ARW program with 21 contributions was divided into three major sections: (a) Advanced water supply, (b) Advanced wastewater treatment, (c) Case studies of water resource management. The papers presented addressed a broad variety of issues corresponding to these three sessions and ranged from reviews and case studies to scientific papers. A synthesis of the presented papers follows.

The first session dealt with advanced water supply. In the introductory paper, an overview of strategies for enhancing sustainability of urban water was given. The issue of rain water harvesting as a secondary source of water and a measure to runoff of water was extensively discuss. This paper served as a starting point for the rest of the workshop program. The paper from Ukraine presented a study of human mortality and morbidity in relation to drinking water quality (medical geography). A mathematical risk model indicated worst impacts in certain areas, which coincided with areas of poor drinking water quality. The next paper addressed removal of natural organic matter (NOM) from source water. A new process involving addition of PAC (Powder Activated Carbon) in front of Actiflo (ballasted flocculation) was tested with good results at a test site in France. Situation of water supply in Slovakia was extensively reviewed. The paper addressed issues how to increase the number of inhabitants connected and how to face problems with acceptance of increasing water prices. The last paper showed several water supply renovation projects on the river basin level in the Czech Republic and discussed design considerations to overcome problems in the project areas.

The next two sessions addressed advances in wastewater treatment. The first paper in this section dealt with considerations and procedures in preparation and implementation of storm water management and treatment for small-sized communities. The next paper proved MBR technology to provide reuse-quality water and pointed out a number of advantages – e.g., when upgrading (small footprint), and opportunities for optimization (reduced energy requirements). The paper from Italy presented combined sewer networks in hilly regions. Unexplored issues due to the high flow velocity which characterize sloped systems were discussed and results of a field survey carried out at the experimental combined sewer of the Volterra basin were presented. Next, low-cost alternatives for water disinfection by solar energy were introduced with possible application mainly in rural areas. These alternatives were divided into thermal and photochemical processes and the advantages and limitations of each method were presented. Two papers dealt with removal of micro-pollutants and compared various methods of micro-pollutants removal. The paper from Austria presented results of the assessment of the removal potential for micropollutants. The technology was evaluated for the disinfection potential in regard to bacterial standard hygienic parameters and model viruses and the impact on acute and genotoxic activities as well as the endocrine potential were investigated. The second study compared the fate and the removal efficiency of micro-pollutants in municipal wastewater treated in a conventional activated sludge (CAS) process followed by Ultrafiltration (UF) and in a membrane bioreactor (MBR). This topic was further discussed in the paper from Armenia. The paper showed results of use of natural materials (agricultural byproducts, zeolites) for removal of various chemicals. The challenges faced by Slovak managers in charge of wastewater treatment were analyzed with respect the need for higher technology for sewage treatment to meet EU expectations. Another paper from Slovakia discussed sludge treatment in small and intermediate WWTPs and possibilities for optimal operation of open sludge tanks and optimal handling with sludge. The last paper of this section dealt with economic valuation of environmental benefits of water reuse projects. The assessment of economic benefits was done through the estimation of shadow prices of undesirable outputs resulting from wastewater regeneration.

The last section showed case studies of water resource management. The first paper discussed impacts of WWTF on ground water on the example of Svetorglosk, Belarus. The paper from Ukraine addressed the issues of riverine pollutant migration between Romania and Ukraine and suggested possible measures to improve the situation. Two papers dealt with water management in Jordan. The first paper gave a detailed overview of water resources in Jordan. It stressed the need to increase non-conventional water resources and charges for over pumping water to prevent over abstraction. The second paper focused on limitations of sustainable reuse of wastewater and sludge in Jordan due to residues of POPs. In conclusion, accumulations of toxicants must be studied, relevant guidance for WW and sludge reuse should be provided as conventional treatment does not remove xenophobic compounds. Issue of water stress was further discussed in two papers from Israel. Marginal water resources management was introduced in the one of these papers. This paper illustrated collaboration between Israel and Palestinian Authority. Finally, water issues in the Middle East can be cause for escalation of conflict and is one of the core issues along with the recognition of the states, borders, etc. In this context, water issues should ideally be decoupled from political disputes.

There were also ten posters dealing with drinking water supply in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, a range of devices for water analysis and various aspects of water management wastewater treatment in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia.