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Danish support to improved water quality in Central and Eastern Europe 1991-2001

Chapter 3
Results of DANCEE support

3.1 Environment and Health Conditions

For Europe in general the pollution of the water environment has been growing with the increase in population, growth in industrial production, and more intensified agriculture. Only in the last two decades has comprehensive treatment of wastewater from urban areas including industries taken place. The development in the CEEC has in many ways been parallel to the development in Western Europe. Still, the dramatic change in the governing system around 1990 left many facilities unattended to due to the lack of funds for maintenance and poorly functioning institutional setup.

The Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is special by being the largest brackish water area in the world, because the many rivers reduce the salinity and a very low level of water exchange, which makes it especially vulnerable to pollution.

Since the 1950s, the pollution of the Baltic Sea has been increasing. The level of nitrogen concentration has increased fourfold during the last hundred years, whereas the concentration of phosphorous has increased 8 times. Besides nutrients, the pollution includes general organic matter and a long range of chemical substances, which are toxic to humans and the environment. According to the investigations prepared by HELCOM the total load of nitrogen on the Baltic Sea is estimated at 1 million tons per year. A major part originate from the CEEC either through direct discharges to the Baltic Sea or through discharges to rivers that runs into the Baltic Sea.

Transport of oil and cargo on the Baltic Sea is increasing dramatically. Therefore, the Baltic Sea bears an increasing risk of ship collisions, which increase the risk of oil spillage. Operational spills during the loading and unloading operations of oil tankers, accidental spills during bunkering, and illegal discharges of oil residue from ships all contribute to the oil contamination and negative consequences to the marine environment. Oil spills from shipping accidents and other discharges of oil residues from ships contribute 10-25% of the total volume of oil pollution in the Baltic Sea. In 1997 the amount of crude oil and oil products handled by Baltic Sea ports had increased to more than 144 million tons. The variation in the amount of fish that can be harvested in the Baltic Sea cannot directly be related to pollution. Natural variation and overfishing are more dominating causes. However, important for the fishing is the alarming level of heavy metals and a range of environmental toxics like PCB, DDT and dioxin compared to fish harvested in neighbouring marine areas like the Kattegat.

The Black Sea

The Black Sea is polluted by nutrients, pathogens, heavy metals, pesticides, oil products, radioactive agents etc. The monitoring of the actual load is poor, but the problems are estimated to be very serious. The effect has been that the Black Sea over the last 30 years has developed from being characterised by a diverse animal and plant life to a situation dominated by eutrofication and a significant reduction in the biodiversity. In 1970, 26 different species of fish were harvested for consumption whereas in the 1990s only 5 species were left. In Romania some coastal areas cannot be used for bathing due to high risk from pathogenic pollution caused by discharge of untreated urban wastewater.

Rivers

Rivers in the CEEC have been characterised according to their water quality based on monitoring in the period 1989-1992. This includes level of pollution with organic matter, toxic substances, oxygen concentration, and the diversity and health condition of fish.

It is important to notice that in many of the countries, especially the larger urban areas, river water is used as drinking water resource. There are large differences between the individual countries, however, Poland and the Czech Republic shows considerably worse water quality in rivers compared to the other countries.

Almost 60% of the rivers in Poland have a poor water quality. Poland has limited water resources and therefore pollution of rivers is a large problem. Besides the pollution with organic matter and nutrients there are distinct problems with heavy metals from the industry and pollution with salts from salt mines discharging into the Vistula and Oder Rivers.

The Czech Republic is also experiencing pollution with organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorous as well as heavy metals to their rivers. Bulgaria has problems with poor water quality, in rivers, related to organic matter, oil products and nitrates.

Groundwater quality at many locations in the CEEC is deteriorated due to poorly functioning individual wastewater disposal systems, uncontrolled landfills and industrial waste disposal. This is particularly a problem for rural areas. For example, in Romania 45% of the total population relies on shallow (5-20 m deep) individual wells.

Health

The shortage of good quality water has been the cause of many water-related health problems in the CEEC. Contamination of surface water and groundwater with domestic or industrial wastewater has frequently been reported as leading to health hazards in drinking water. The health hazards could be either from chemicals such as pesticides, nitrates, and heavy metals or from pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, and virus.

The magnitude of the health impact from infectious diseases is borne out in the statistics for infant mortality. Around 1990 the infant mortality rate in Western Europe was around 8 per 1,000 live births compared to the CEEC which were on a level of about 19 per 1,000 live births. At the same time it was estimated that infants deaths caused by infectious diseases accounted for about 4.7 per 1,000 live births in the CEEC compared to 0.4 in Western Europe. The difference clearly indicates that infectious diseases play an important role in infant mortality in the CEEC. Polluted water and air together with general poverty are the dominant factors facilitating infectious diseases.

In the beginning of the 1990ies both Latvia and Lithuania reported serious outbreaks of hepatitis A, Salmonellosis and dysentery. Similar reports came from the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. In Ukraine the incidents of hepatitis A grew by 30% from 1990 to 1991. Highincience of hepatitis A was reported in the mid to late 1990s in Odessa and Crimea during a prolonged drought.

Environmental effects of water supply projects supported by DANCEE

In general, it is difficult to conclude on diseases related to chemical contamination of water supplies. Health impact from chemical contamination like heavy metals accumulates over the years and is thus related to chronic diseases. An exception is the contamination with nitrates, which can lead to Methemoglobanemia in infants ("blue babies"). This has been reported especially for rural areas where shallow wells are contaminated from manure, fertilisers or from discharge of untreated sewage.

Drinking water is frequently polluted between the source and the consumer when ageing distribution networks allow cross-contamination from sewerage systems particularly in systems not able to sustain 24 hours continuous supply. This has repeatedly caused short-term outbreaks of intestinal diseases. Many of the supply systems were not maintained as rapidly as they deteriorated.

Along the inland streams and rivers in the CEEC microbiological contamination of water resources is also a problem in urban areas. Towns that have their raw water source a few kilometres downstream of a wastewater discharge cannot be protected against intestinal diseases even when water treatment is proper, let alone when there is a breakdown in the water treatment.

Many countries in CEE report groundwater contamination by heavy metals, hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons

Discharge of untreated wastewater to lakes and coastal areas used for recreation also gave rise to a number of recurring health effects both along rivers and lakes in the CEEC and in the Black and the Baltic Seas. The health risks to people bathing relate both to microorganisms causing intestinal diseases and hepatitis A, but also to oil-spill related products. For example, in the Baltic States many of the beaches were closed because of heavy contamination with sewage and industrial discharges (Bay of Riga). The same situation applied to the resort settlements along the Black Sea coast where epidemics of intestinal infections frequently occurred in the 1990ies.

3.2 Project Outcome

Water Supply

Water treatment plants and water supply systems have been constructed, upgraded or rehabilitated in 35 towns. The overall effect is improved quality of drinking water, improved reliability of 24-hour supply, and reduced energy consumption and loss of treated water.

Danish leakage detection technologies and well nodig rehabilitation methods have been introduced through training and demonstration projects.

While not all of the benefits derived from these interventions can be expressed by simple quantifiable indicators, rough estimates are produced as shown in the table above.

Groundwater Protection

DANCEE assistance has also been employed in remediating jet fuel and oil spills from former military air bases and decontaminating soil from railways operation, industrial sites, and uranium mines as well as implementing measures to prevent further contamination.

The remediation projects have especially taken place around decommissioned military sites in the Baltic States, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland.

The emphasis of many projects has been on training and equipping local experts so that they can carry out remediation measures throughout the country over the long term.

Since these contamination sites frequently threaten local water supply, the DANCEE assistance has had a significant local impact for up to 300,000 inhabitants.

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater treatment plants have been constructed, upgraded or rehabilitated in 120 towns. The overall effect is a reduction in discharge of BOD, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous as indicated in the table above.

The reduction of discharge can be distributed on the catchment area draining to the Baltic Sea and the catchment area draining to the Black Sea. The DANCEE interventions in Moscow have primarily reduced pollution of the Moscow River. This river drains to both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea because of the canal systems connected to the Volga River.

In the Baltic Sea area 20 DANCEE wastewater projects have targeted "hotspot" areas as defined by HELCOM. These are:

	Poland: Warsaw (Czajka and Pancerz WWTP), Bydgoszcz, Torun, Szczecin, Poznan, Lodz, and Zielena Gora
	Ukraine: Lviv
	The Baltic states: Matsalu (Est.), Daugapils (Lat.), Kaunas, Marijampole, Alytus, Vilnius, and Siauliai (Lit.)
	Russia and Belarus: Pskov (Rus.) and Brest (Bel.)

Location of DANCEE supported wastewater projects in the CEEC. At most locations more than one project has been carried out.

DANCEE has evaluated the performance of wastewater treatment plants that have received DANCEE support. Treatment plants in Poland (14) and Lithuania (16) all comply with local effluent standards. Most of the treatment plants evaluated also complied to the EU discharge standard for Nitrogen.

Performance of DANCEE supported wastewater treatment plants in Poland.

In some countries the capacity of the constructed wastewater treatment plants are not fully exploited as the sewage system and the house connections have not been fully implemented. DANCEE therefore supports extension of sewer systems to speed up the connection rate and the close down of outdated individual disposal systems.

The DANCEE supported interventions at the Kuryanovo wastewater treatment plant in Moscow (10 million p.e.) showed that relative small changes in the processes resulted in a 25% reduction of the discharge of nitrogen.
  

Many wastewater treatment plants have in the CEEC no means of dewatering sludge. This is kept in lagoons potentially polluting groundwater or causing risk of an environmental disaster to surface water when lagoon walls burst. DANCEE therefore has supported the introduction of Danish sludge dewatering technology gradually closing down these lagoons.

Sewer Rehabilitation

Within sewer rehabilitation Danish technology has been demonstrated in most countries of the CEE, especially in larger cities like St. Peterburg and Kiev. All together 20-30 kilometres of sewer pipeline have been rehabilitated in demonstration projects showing the advantage of Danish techniques. The demonstration projects in themselves have resulted in reduced wastewater loads on groundwater, reduced infiltration of groundwater which could lead to hydraulic overloading of the wastewater treatment plant and reduced collapse of main sewers below busy urban streets.

The reduction in energy consumption from the rehabilitation of sewage pumping stations has not been directly measured but commonly the energy consumption is more than halved. The result is both reduced operational cost and reduced emission of CO₂ from energy consumption.

Industrial Pollution

The support to the industry projects has in general concentrated on demonstration projects for cleaner technology. In cooperation with local authorities a number of industries have been selected, and through a demonstration project the advantages of cleaner technology have been demonstrated. DANCEE has supported industrial pollution projects in a big variation of industries. These interventions in itself had led to water savings of over 2 million m³/year, a reduction of heavy metals, and toxic substances of more than 100 tons/year and also reduced discharges of BOD, nitrogen, and phosphorous. The effect of cleaner technology has therefore been clearly demonstrated inspiring the countries to continue along the ideas and principles in the demonstration projects. Overall the demonstration projects has resulted in a 50-90% reduction in water consumption, reduction of BOD/COD by 70-90%, reduced discharge of nitrogen by 50%, and reduced discharge of heavy metals by up to 97%.

Industrial Wastewater Pollution Projects

Receiving Water

The effect of supporting environmental monitoring in the CEEC is improved local monitoring of water quality. The Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC, receives support from Denmark) collects and disseminates environmental information on the water environment. The water quality monitoring in rivers in the Baltic States, Poland, and the Czech Republic are now improving and as a result future interventions can be targeted based on an improved knowledge of the actual condition of water environment.

The support has included both regional and national environmental monitoring and management systems covering rivers, coastlines, and the sea.

The effect of the improved knowledge on the river hydraulics in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine will be seen at the next flooding incident. The modelling provides the basis for protective measures and forecasting flooding incidents, which increase the time for reaction. In this way properties can be better protected reducing the loss from flooding.

Oil Spill

DANCEE has supported the three Baltic States in developing a national oil-spill contingency plan. Further have these plans been implemented by providing equipment, airborne-surveillance systems, and reception facilities in ports.

Data collection of estimated quantities of oil spill in e.g. the Baltic countries, shows a general decline from 1996 to 1999 of 17 tons in 1996 (excluding Lithuania due to lack of data) to less than 7 tons in 1999 (including Lithuania). The decline is important to note due to HELCOM quantification of statistic increase in the amount of anticipated oil spill from 207 tons in 1996 to 343 tons in 2001. With an expected statistic increase of 60% in oil spills from oil handling activities in the Baltic region, a decrease of more than 40% in actual oil spills shows the effective results of a targeted and longterm committed technical and hardware assistance from among others the DANCEE programme.

3.3 Environment and Health Impacts

Impact on Local Water Environment

The "hotspots" as defined by HELCOM focus on the environment of the Baltic Sea. However, all over the CEEC there are local "hotspots" where the river environment is threatened by wastewater flooding, water resources are threatened by accidental spills from e.g. sludge or slurry lagoons or domestic and industrial wastewater discharge etc. The sewer pipeline renovations in St. Petersborg, Kiev, and other places have ensured stable function of main sewer systems and prevented collapse of sewers below main streets in central urban areas. Rehabilitation of pumping stations in Latvia and Ukraine have prevented discharge of untreated wastewater to urban water courses and wastewater flooding in urban streets.

Discharge from a wastewater treatment plant downstream of one town can be a threat to the water supply of the downstream town. Wastewater treatment plants do reduce the concentration of pathogens but since disinfection is not applied to the discharge a substantial amount of pathogens are still discharged to rivers. This poses both risks to the drinking water supply and to water recreational areas. DANCEE supported projects have improved local water conditions by improving wastewater treatment but also by centralising treatment cutting off discharges to recreational waters and discharging effluent downstream of main water intakes.

Generally spoken it is not straight forward to compare river water quality from 1990 to year 2000. In the beginning of the 1990s many monitoring stations were out of function and data quality was doubtful. DANCEE has supported many projects setting up monitoring stations to be able to analyse the change in river water quality from interventions in the upstream areas. The effect in the immediate downstream area of a large wastewater treatment plant being commissioned for an urban area is evident especially concerning organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, and pathogens. However, the impact on many environmental toxics are less dramatic since many components accumulate in bottom sediments and are released over time.

The impact on groundwater from reduced discharge of heavy metals and hydrocarbons (in particular mineral oils) is evident but can not yet be documented. The improvements in groundwater quality will take many years to achieve because of time taken for pollutants to enter and move with the groundwater.

Baltic Sea

According to the latest report by the Helsinki Commission 22 out of 132 "hotspots" have been deleted to date. This originates both in introduction of wastewater treatment, cleaner technology in large industries, clean-up of military sites, improved slurry handling on large scale lifestock farms and reduced consumption of fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture. DANCEE has targeted 20 "hotspots" in the Baltic Sea region, which are not yet deleted from HELCOM's list.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) evaluates the causes of eutrofication in Europe's coastal water. The EEA report that both the coastal as well as the open Baltic Sea is affected by eutrofication with enhanced nutrient concentrations although the levels has decreased over the last 10 years. The highest load are found in estuaries and coastal areas close to rivers that drain agricultural and densely populated areas. Especially nitrogen loads have decreased into the Baltic Sea among others because of reduced fertiliser use in the CEEC draining into the Baltic Sea. Concerning phosphorous the targets set in the 1998 Ministerial Declaration of a 50% reduction of discharge from point sources has been reached. This is a clear result from interventions on both domestic and industrial wastewater.

In August 2001 HELCOM announced that the Baltic Region has reached its goal of reducing discharges of hazardous substances into the sea by 50%. HELCOM defined 47 hazardous substances such as dioxins and antifouling agents, and the discharge of the substances into the Baltic Sea have largely been reduced using both legal means and direct interventions. Also the phasing out of leaded vehicle fuel significantly decreased the discharge of lead into the Baltic Sea. Lead discharged through the exaust pipe ends on street surfaces and are washed into streams during rain. The reduction in discharge of hazardous substances comes also from closing down of factories but the introduction of cleaner technology and the cleaning up of contaminated sites has made its substantial contribution.

Impact on the Black Sea

Impact on the Black Sea will still be only at a few local spots. DANCEE support has concentrated on urban areas along the Danube river in Romania and urban areas in the Crimea Peninsula in Ukraine. Local effects can be registered but the massive environmental impact will come from implementing the EU supported wastewater projects in large cities like Constanta on the Black Sea coast. DANCEE has supported the preparation and the application for financing of these projects.

Health impact

The DANCEE supported water quality projects in the CEEC can potentially impact health as follows:

	Improved treatment of municipal wastewater will reduce the discharge of pathogens. Less pathogens in surface waters means reduced risk of contamination of drinking water and reduced risks from direct contact with the surface water e.g. during bathing.
	Water saving measures leads to reduced hydraulic overloading of sewer systems whereby flooding of wastewater and discharge of untreated wastewater into surface waters are reduced. Thereby the risk of direct contact with wastewater is reduced.
	Rehabilitation of sewer lines reduces the incidents of collapse and thereby wastewater flooding. Rehabilitation of water pipelines reduce the possibility of drinking water being contaminated between production facilities and the consumer.
	Protection of groundwater against contamination with organic solvents, oilproducts etc. protects human health from drinking chemically contaminated water. The same apply to the reduction of industrial discharge of heavy metals, and other toxic substances.
	The reduction and improved control of oil-spill reduces incidents of chemical contamination either through bathing or through the consumption of fish (marine products).
	Connection of households to a central sewer system reduces the incidents of contamination of shallow wells by pathogens and nitrates from individual wastewater disposal systems.

The development of public health in the CEEC is monitored by the European Public Health Information Network for Eastern Europe, EUPHIN. It is a network supported by the WHO (regional office for Europe), the European Union, and the individual countries of CEE. Overall, the CEEC are experiencing a reduction in infant mortality rate and an increase in life expectancy. Health has improved considerably better in the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Baltic States but improvements are also recorded in the remaining countries of the CEE.

An indicator of improved health from improved water quality is the decrease in incidents of hepatitis A. This disease has not been prevalent in Poland and Czech Republic, but the Baltic States and Bulgaria and Belarus have come down from incidents levels between 150 to 250 per 100,000 to well below 100 incidents per 100,000 in year 2000 (EUPHIN).

A range of factors influences the above expressions of health where water environment is one factor. Other influencing factors are poverty, access to health care, and other environmental factors. The DANCEE supported projects also assist the CEEC in moving towards compliance with the Protocol on water and health signed by 42 European Environment and Health ministries in London, June 1999.

3.4 Cost Effectiveness

Improvements to the water environment can be achieved by a range of interventions, which include:

	Improvement in sewage treatment
	Reduction in airborne emissions
	Reduction in agricultural application of fertilisers on land

Generally the reduction in airborne transmission of e.g. nitrogen is relative expensive compared to interventions in agricultural land management and sewage treatment. Reducing the discharge of phosphorous can not be obtained by reducing air emissions.

The cost efficiency of an intervention has to be measured against the objective of the intervention. The objective could be the local water quality of a river or a bay or it could be regionally like interventions for improving the nutrient conditions in the Baltic Sea. An investment can thus have both a primary objective in improving local water quality and a secondary objective of contributing to reduced nutrient discharge to the sea.

As a consequence of the Danish Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment Denmark has the most extensive treatment of wastewater and the highest level of connection rates when compared to Eastern European countries around the Baltic Sea. Nitrogen and phosphorous is reduced by more than 90% in general in Danish waste water treatment plants. Investments in Danish treatment plants to remove further nitrogen and phosphorous will have a relative high cost in terms of investment per kg nutrient removed per year. In the CEEC 20 to 70% (depending on country) of all wastewater is treated before discharge to rivers or directly to the sea. In most of the CEEC treatment plants up to 30% of nitrogen and phosphorous is removed. A considerable investment is required to upgrade these treatment plants to more than 90% removal of nitrogen and phosphorous, which will be required in the EU Urban Wastewater Directive. Still, the nutrients that are removed has a comparable lower investment cost per kg nutrients removed per year compared to the necessary investment in the present Danish wastewater treatment plants.

On DANCEE wastewater treatment projects in the CEEC the total investment cost in nitrogen removal has been DKK 2,300 million (EUR 300 million) with a DANCEE support of DKK 377 million (EUR 50 million). On average the cost per kg N removed has been about DKK 135. As DANCEE on average only has financed 16% the cost for DANCEE has been DKK 22 Per kg N removed. The investments in Danish wastewater treatment plants during the Action Plan for the Danish Water Environment was about DKK 6,500 million (EUR 855 million) which resulted in an investment cost of about DKK 360 per kg N removed.

Cost per kg N removed compared between Danish wastewater treatment plants and DANCEE supported plants in CEEC.

The 50% reduction in nitrogen and phosphorous discharge to the Baltic Sea required according to the Helsinki Convention is according to R.K. Turner achieved with a mix of measures in agriculture wetlands and sewage treatment plants. According to Turner the most cost effective strategy is applied to Poland which accounts for 40% of the necessary reduction. The most cost effective way of reducing phosphorous is by sewage treatment. A relative higher load of phosphorous comes from household and industries. Poland, Russia and the Baltic States around the Baltic Sea accounts for 72% of the most cost effective nitrogen reduction and 90% of the phosphorous reduction. It is part of DANCEE's strategy to support investments in nutrient reductions in these countries around the Baltic Sea.

References

Baltic Environmental Forum: 2nd Baltic State of the Environment Report, 2001.

Baltic 21: Development in the Baltic Sea Region towards the Baltic 21 Goals - an indicator based assessment. Baltic 21 Series No. 2/2000, 2000.

BOING: Eutrophication in the Baltic Sea. Newsletter 2, May 2001, 2001.

DANCEE: Application of Institutional Development Indicators, 2001.

DANCEE: "Expost Examination" of the DANCEE supported Wastewater Treatment Plants in Poland, 2001.

DEPA/DANCEE: Annual Reports 1995-2000.

DEPA: Environmental factors and health, 2001.

DEPA/DANCEE: Danish cleaner production projects in Central and Eastern Europe 1991-1995. Environmental Review No. 2, 1996.

DEPA/DANCEE: Miljøsamarbejde i Østersøregionen, 2001.

DEPA: Romanian-Danish Environmental Co-operation, 1998.

DEPA: EU's enlargement towards the East - environmental perspectives, 1997.

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EU-DGENV: The benefit of compliance with the environmental acquis, ECOTEC, 2001 European Environment Agency: Europes Environment, The Dobris Assessment, 1995.

European Environment Agency: Marine and coastal environment. Annual topic update 2000. Topic report 11/2001.

European Environment Agency: Europe's Environment: The Second Assessment. Elsevier Science Ltd. 1998.

Helsinki Commission: Environment of the Baltic Sea Area. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings No. 82A, 2001.

Helsinki Commission: Evaluation of the Implementation of the 1988 Ministerial Declaration regarding Nutrient Removal, 2001.

Helsinki Commission: Oil Handling in the Baltic Sea Area, 1996-2000.

PLS Consult: Project Evaluation of the Environmental Support Fund for Eastern Europe 1991-1996, 1999.

REC: Strategic environmental issues in Central and Eastern Europe, 1994.

R.K. Turner et al.: Ecological Economics 30 (1999) 333-352.

UNEP: Bucharest Convention. Convention on the protection of the Black Sea against pollution, 1994.

WHO: European Public Health Information Network for Eastern Europa, EUPHIN. WHO regional office Europe, 2001.

WHO: Concern for Europes Tomorrow. WHOs European Center for Environment and Health, 1995.

World Bank: Environment and Health in Central and Eastern Europe, 1994.

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