Emissions of organic and inorganic substances from municipal waste water treatment plants

The report of the Federal Environment Agency examines more than 100 individual substances in the processes of selected municipal wastewater treatment plants. As a first step, a substance restriction was carried out to 16 individual substances, of which five priority substances and six other substances were identified as relevant in purified waste water on the basis of the environmental quality standards for surface water. Four of these priority substances (cadmium, diuron, nonylphenols and tributyltin compounds) are proposed for mandatory measurement under the Emissions Register Regulation. In addition, mass balances were carried out for the 16 substances at two wastewater treatment plants. It was shown that only nonylphenols are at least partially degraded, the other substances or groups of substances studied either accumulate in sewage sludge or enter the water via the effluent.