Several DEMEAU partners attended the Micropol & Ecohazard Conference and took part in panels and poster presentations. In connection with the conference, project representatives met on June 19 and 20 to discuss the project’s progress. Visits at partner utilities in Zurich gave a first impression of the implementation of the new technologies.
DEMEAU at Micropol & Ecohazard Conference
The 8th IWA Specialized Conference Micropol & Ecohazard was organised by Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and took place on 16-20 June 2013. The conference focused on advances in detecting micropollutants and their chemical and biological transformation products in the urban water cycle, evaluating their human and ecotoxicological effects as well as in reducing their load to the environment via measures at the source and technical methods in water and wastewater treatment. Senior scientist Christa McArdell from Eawag held a talk on the evaluation of analytical and model-based approaches that can be used to assess the exposure of surface waters with human pharmaceuticals. Furthermore three posters were presented. The poster by Merijn Schriks, research toxicologist at KWR, focused on the DEMEAU Work Activity that aims at the implementation of novel rapid and quantitative bioassays for water quality monitoring. The second poster by Roberta Hofman-Caris (KWR) presented the occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals and transformation products in the aqueous environment. A third poster, also presented by Roberta Hofman-Caris, compared the removal of pharmaceuticals from drinking water by different technologies.
DEMEAU project meetings
In connection with the Micropol & Ecohazard conference, DEMEAU partners held a management meeting on 19 June 2013. The objectives of the meeting were to coordinate the work areas, to communicate the progress in the main project tasks and to develop a storyline for the project.
On Thursday, 20 June 2013, the scientific experts and partners providing the technological equipment met, in order to discuss issues of advanced oxidation and bioassays. Marc Bourgin (Eawag) presented his interim results from the first tests of his postdoctoral research on transformation products in ozonation processes. Bart van den Burg gave detailed insights into the work on bioassays. Several representatives of cooperating partners took part in the meetings: Ton van Remmen (Van Remmen), Hans Rudolf Rechsteiner (Sigrist) and Oliver Köster (Waterworks Zurich).
Following the meetings, the Micropol & Ecohazard conference provided the opportunity to attend site-visits.
Visit of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) Neugut, Dübendorf
The Neugut plant will be the first full scale ozonation facility at a municipal WWTP in Switzerland. Beside the conventional treatment (mechanical, biological, phosphate removal and sand filtration), this additional step enables the reduction of micropollutants to protect the river Glatt. At the existing Neugut plant space was very limited and technologies to address emerging pollutants such as powdered activated carbon, which need more space, were not a possible option. The ozonation technology was adapted to fit the available space and attention was paid to reduce its footprint through low-energy processes (reduced pumping). Post-treatment options will be investigated to identify the best option for treatment after ozonation to eliminate transformation products, beside the existing sand-filter. Currently, the construction is finished and the mechanical installation has started. The launch of the ozonation operation is expected for early 2014. The Neugut plant is a tailor-made application developed in cooperation with Eawag and the surrounding municipalities to protect the water quality of the nearby river and wells. DEMEAU accompanies the operation of the ozonation at the WWTP Neugut, observing barriers and promoting examples of the application of this innovative technology.
Visit of Water Works Zurich - Lengg water plant
The water works of Zurich is a municipal enterprise. It is and has been an optimal testing field for innovative technologies. Currently, 70 % of the water stems from Lake Zurich and 15% from spring & groundwater each. In the frame of the Micropol & Ecohazard Conference, the Lengg water plant was visited. Since 1993, the plant purifies the lake water that is collected 30 m below the water surface. Although the extracted water has almost drinking water quality, it runs through a 6 step purification process: Pre-ozonation, pH correction, two-layer rapid sand filter, intermediate ozonation, activated carbon filter, slow sand filter. Many of the applied techniques are highly relevant to DEMEAU. At the visited site, a new process combination using ultrafiltration, ozonation, activated carbon filtration and UV is tested in a pilot plant.
Ecologic Institute is a partner in the DEMEAU project responsible for the coordination of the communication between the partners. To this purpose, utility events will be organised to showcase the technologies at the sites that are involved within the project. Furthermore, a wide range of stakeholders is addressed with appropriate means of dissemination.
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