Wastewater: Important resource and source of information for pandemic control
27.02.2023 14:52
The Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Environment Ministry promote wastewater monitoring with important information for pandemic radar
Targeted wastewater monitoring offers the opportunity to detect waves of infection at an early stage. In addition, the wastewater treated at a high level by HAMBURG WASSER ensures a clean and safe environment. Sewage treatment plants thus make an important contribution to protecting the health of the population and also ensure the sustainable use of the substances recovered during wastewater treatment, such as phosphorus.
Secretary of State Dr. Antje Draheim: “Wastewater testing helps environmental and health oversight alike. The pandemic has shown that we can read trends in infection events very early on. This early warning system is an essential part of the pandemic radar. Monitoring can help to better manage health crises in the future.”
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke: “Wastewater is often viewed as just a waste product. The wastewater treatment from sewage treatment plants offers opportunities for health protection and the recovery of raw materials. Wastewater monitoring and pandemic radar show the successful cooperation between the environmental and health sides and also the wealth of information that can be found in the wastewater. Wastewater studies can map the trend of an infection and serve as an early warning system in the health sector. The Hamburg location also uses the example of phosphorus to show how material cycles can be closed.”
HAMBURG WASSER managing director Ingo Hannemann: “Wastewater is the new black gold and our Hamburg sewage treatment plant is increasingly becoming an urban mine. We extract biogas from the sewage sludge that is created when the wastewater is cleaned, which is used to generate electricity and heat. We have been producing surpluses for more than ten years, which we pass on to the public networks. In the future, we will also use new technologies to recycle important raw materials such as phosphorus from wastewater. With the delivery of wastewater samples for the RKI-Pandemic radar helps us to better prepare public health prevention. Water companies like HAMBURG WASSER are transforming themselves nationwide into broad-based service companies that offer comprehensive services for the people in our country – real public services.”
Background information:
In October 2022, the pandemic radar operated by the Robert Koch Institute was included in the Infection Protection Act. An important part of this data dashboard is the trend analysis of the viral load in the wastewater SARS–CoV-2 virus fragments in wastewater must be determined. More than 50 wastewater treatment plant locations in Germany already regularly provide data SARS–CoV-2 finds in wastewater, which were reported by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), quality assured to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) to get redirected. The trend calculation for the epidemiological situation assessment is then carried out there. A total of around 170 locations are to be connected to the pandemic radar. The wastewater samples are also randomly examined for newly emerging virus variants. Samples are currently being taken from the wastewater from the international airports in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin and analyzed for virus variants. That's where they are too TU Darmstadt and that UBA involved.
The analysis of the viral load in wastewater provides information about the spread of viruses, independent of testing on humans or reports to health authorities SARS–CoV-2 viruses and their variants in Germany. They also detect asymptomatic infections. However, wastewater monitoring cannot provide any information about the individual severity of illnesses or the clinical relevance of any virus variants. An overall picture of the current pandemic situation emerges when all ten indicators of the pandemic radar are read together. Once fully established, wastewater monitoring can serve as an early warning system: the viral load curve in wastewater usually rises several days earlier than is the case with other pandemic radar indicators. This can save valuable time in order to take early measures to contain the spread of the virus if necessary. Wastewater monitoring has been carried out in several research projects with funding from the EU Commission, des BMBF and some countries in Germany. The Federal Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, is now financing the establishment of permanent structures for wastewater monitoring with over 30 in the “Wastewater Monitoring for Epidemiological Situation Surveillance” (AMELAG) project million Euro until the end of 2024.
In October 2022 the EU Commission submitted a draft amendment to the Municipal Waste Water Directive. The European Commission's draft directive sets important requirements for the wastewater industry in order to achieve the zero-pollutant vision 2050 as part of the Green Deal. By 2050, air, water and soil pollution should be reduced to a level that preserves human health and intact ecosystems.
The draft guidelines also include further ambitious goals for health, environmental and resource protection. By 2040, all sewage treatment plants with a population size of 10,000 or more should be energy-neutral, and in the future sewage sludge should be treated in such a way that important raw materials such as phosphorus can be effectively recovered. Since phosphorus is on the list of EU stands for critical raw materials, the recovery from wastewater and sewage sludge is important for the sustainable conservation of resources. The draft directive is currently being negotiated in the Council and the European Parliament.
The German Sewage Sludge Ordinance (AbfKlärV), amended in 2017, stipulates an obligation to recover the nutrient phosphorus from sewage sludge and sewage sludge ash from 2029. The one from the EU Nutrient classified as “critical” is currently va for fertilizing purposes almost exclusively from non-EUcountries - including Russia - and mined and imported under environmentally harmful conditions. The phosphorus recovered from sewage sludge and sewage sludge ash should va are used in agriculture. The AbfKlärV regulations, which will apply from 2029, are intended to make it possible to replace up to 40 % of phosphorus mineral fertilizer used in agriculture with recyclates.
HAMBURG WASSER's wastewater treatment plant is already a technological pioneer in the fields mentioned here and shows what additional important contribution, in addition to wastewater treatment, wastewater treatment plants will make to society in the future.
The draft National Water Strategy presented by the BMUV also makes an important contribution here, in which the water management of the future deals efficiently, resource-saving and sustainably with nature and the environment, energy, raw materials and recyclables. The efficient (re)generation of energy, water and valuable materials should be implemented in greater cooperation with other sectors such as the waste, secondary raw materials and energy industries, fertilizer production and agriculture. This will also be the case EU-Action plan for the circular economy implemented: wastewater and wastewater ingredients are used as a resource.