Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Germany. Mons et al. (
2013
) pointed out that the
presence of a range of [indi-
vidual] contaminants at concentrations just below their individual target value is
undesirable [by itself], because it demonstrates that a variety of [mixtures of]
contaminants can pass drinking water treatment
“
. Hence the total mixture should
also be a serious concern, as it is in the Netherlands.
Although the drinking water treatment plants in Germany are not able to remove
all micropollutants in the main cites,
”
drinking water conditioning in Germany aims
at removing pollutants (also micro-pollutions) from water to such a degree, that there
is no risk for human health [even if there is]
“
…
lifelong consumption of the drinking
water (2 liters daily for a period of 70 years)
(Markard
2014
). As Germany is highly
industrialized and densely populated, it is not surprising if micropollutants are
detected in drinking water samples. Thus, the German government attempts to
”
“
keep
[a] hazardous substance which can in
uence drinking water quality, as low as
achievable according to the generally acknowledged technical standard of treatment
within [reasonable] expenditure [limits]
”
according to the
“
minimization rule
”
of the
German Drinking Water Ordinance (Markard
2014
).
At this point it is worth recalling what was noted above on the high quality of
wastewater treatment in Germany. Biological degradation of wastewater is prac-
tised on a vast scale, with only 0.03 percent of wastewater that is not subjected to
biological treatment (Fig.
12.6
). If we assume that the wastewater treatment plants
use the scientifically required time for biological degradation, then we can expect
that in Germany, PPCPs are well below the Health-Related Indicator Values
(HRIV) stated in Table
12.3
, which are themselves quite stringent. Although the
HRIV are above the targets set in the Netherlands (see Table
12.1
), they are still
below the I
70
limit, which are quantities ingested after 70 years of consumption of
2 L of drinking water per day, with the maximum concentration of the pharma-
ceutical observed in drinking water.
Furthermore, note that the PPCPs being well below the Health-Related Indicator
Values are only relevant for the portion of the population that relies on surface
water, which may have been subject to wastewater discharges. As noted above,
only 24 percent of the drinking water comes from surface water, and the rest from
groundwater, which is presumably free of all micropollutants. Therefore, we can
conclude that in Germany, treated drinking water is of the highest quality, probably
better than Class 6, in terms of the classi
12.6 Cost Structure of Water Supply and Wastewater
Discharge
12.6.1 Water Supply
As shown in Chap.
4
, the EU Commission recommends a three-part tariff that
includes (a) a
financial costs of supply, (b) a
charge per unit of water used, and (c) a charge per unit of pollution produced.
xed component, to cover the
xed
Search WWH ::
Custom Search