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Indicator Assessment
Absolute decoupling of nutrient emissions from domestic sector and the population growth over the period of almost two decades (1990-2009) is observed in thirteen countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Turkey). The actual extent of decoupling, and the differences in trends among countries, may be partially explained by different levels of numbers of inhabitants connected to tertiary wastewater treatment technologies
When making the EU wide comparison of the extend of decoupling of nutrient emissions from population growth, the actual rate of population connected to different types of treatment (elaborated in the CSI 024) should be taken into consideration, and completeness of the data available on population connected to collecting systems without treatment. The status of the implementation of the UWWTD which protects the water environment from the adverse effects of discharges of urban waste water, the level of investment in the water and wastewater management ,as well as the status of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Groundwater Directive may have an impact. Furthermore household patterns as well as the household income level affecting the production and composition of waste water should be considered as well.
It is assumed that the use of actual data on loads discharged from wastewater treatment plants combined with the load values calculated for population not connected to the waste water treatment would add value to the decoupling indicator, as it would better reflect the real situation..
Most significant decoupling of domestic nutrients emission in water and the population growth was recorded in Greece, Austria , where nitrogen emission decreased by about a half and phosphorus emission decreased by about 60 %, whereas the population grew by slightly less than 10%. Significant reduction in domestic nutrients emission in water over the last two decades, despite the population growth occurred also in the Netherlands (44,6% and 50,7% reduction of nitrogen emission load)Population growth in the Czech republic and Germany was not as high as in the Member States mentioned above (1,8% and 3,9% respectively) , however the reduction of nutrients loads discharged from domestic sector were also considerable (34% and 32% reduction of nitrogen emission load , 41% and 51%reduction of phosphorus emission load respectively). In Austria, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands at least four out of every five persons are connected to waste water treatment plants equipped with tertiary treatment. Decrease in emission coupled with decrease in population growth occurred in Estonia, Bulgaria . However the rate of emission decrease was greater than the rate of population decrease.
The increase of nutrient emission observed in Iceland, Sweden and Malta may indicate an increasing generation of pollution from households due to the population growth, whereas raising nutrient emission in case of Poland, where population growth over the last decade was insignificant, may be attributed to the data quality rather that the increasing generation of pollution. Values of nitrogen emission intensity for 2009 range from 1,41 to 4,09 kg of total nitrogen per inhabitant per year. The 2009 values for total phosphorus range from 0, 21 to 0, 88 kg per inhabitant per year. Over the period from 1990 to 2009 the nitrogen and phosphorus emission intensity decreased significantly in fivecountries (AT, DE, EL, NL, PT,) . These countries (except Portugal) reported a relatively high percentage of national population connected to waste water treatment and low percentage of population connected to collecting systems without treatment or population without treatment. In case of Portugal, the main factor affecting the decrease in emission intensity was about 30% decrease of population without treatment over the last two decades.
Current calculation of the emission intensity, being based on default treatment efficiencies per type of treatment, mostly reflect the status of the waste water infrastructure in Europe, but does not make it possible to differentiate between countries that apply more advanced (and more efficient) treatment technologies and countries that implement the minimum requirements of the UWWTD. More precise data is presented in values of emission intensity for 2009 for AT, CZ, DE, DK, EE, LT, LU, NL, NO and SI as the last vertical bar in Fig. 2 and 3, respectively (based on emission data reported under the UWWTD) . The nitrogen emission intensity values calculated on the basis of default p.e. values are in average 20% higher than the values derived from reported nitrogen actual emissions. In case of phosphorus the differences are even higher, the calculated emission intensity values are about 30% higher than the values derived from reported emission data. This shows that several UWWTPs perform better than the default values – and likely also than the UWWTD legal requirements – so optimising the performance and providing the data on actual emissions may further underpin such more positive picture of the real situation and developments in the waste water treatment in Europe.
This indicator is used to illustrate the emission intensity of the domestic sector (household plus services), expressed as the amount of discharged pollutant from wastewater treatment/or discharged without treatment per inhabitant per year. Furthermore, the indicator shows a decoupling of the emission of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and population growth across Europe.
The values of change (increase/or decrease) in discharged load between 1990 and 2009 (expressed in percentages, where values in 1990 = 100%) are plotted against the values of change in population growth.
Absolute decoupling occurs when the environmentally relevant variable is stable or decreasing while the driving force is growing. Relative decoupling occurs when the growth rate of the emission is positive, but less than the population growth rate.
Emission intensity is expressed in kilogrammes of pollutant per inhabitant per year. Changes in pollutant emissions from households between 1990 and 2009 are expressed in percent, where the values recorded in 1990 represent 100%. Changes in population between 1990 and 2009 are expressed in percent, where the values recorded in 1990 represent 100%.
In March 2010, the European Commission issued ‘Europe 2020 strategy’ - the European Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It highlights – among other things - the need for a more resource efficient economy. The “Flagship initiative” under the Europe 2020 strategy, called “A resource efficient Europe”, establishes resource efficiency as the guiding principle for EU policies on energy, transport, climate change, industry, commodities, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity and regional development. The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe defines medium- and long-term objectives to achieve efficient resource use in the region. Decoupling, in the sense of breaking the link between economic growth and resource use, is a central concept of the strategy for making Europe resource efficient. The 2050 vision and the objectives for 2020 are to be addressed in the sector initiatives that shall contribute to the resource-efficient Europe Flagship Initiative (i.e. the 7th EU Environmental Action Programme or the revision of the Common Agriculture Policy, Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive).
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD; 91/271/EEC) aims to protect the environment from the adverse effects of urban wastewater discharges. It prescribes the level of treatment required before discharge and has to be fully implemented in the EU-15 countries by 2005 and in the ten new Member States by 2008 - 2015. The directive requires Member States to provide all agglomerations of more than 2 000 population equivalent with collecting systems, and all wastewaters collected to be provided with appropriate treatment by 2005. Secondary treatment (i.e. biological treatment) must be provided for all agglomerations of more than 2 000 population equivalent that discharge into fresh waters, while more advanced treatment (tertiary treatment) is required for discharges into sensitive areas.
The achievements through the UWWTD have to be seen as an integrated part of objectives under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which aim at a good ecological and chemical status for all waters by 2015. That means that more stringent emission targets may be set in case it is needed for achieving the good status.
EU wide targets related to the nutrient emission intensity of domestic sectors, or the decoupling of nutrient emission from population growth have not been set.
For overall emission load the following formula was used:
Ntotdischarged= Ntot(coll.system)+Ntot(without treatment)+ Ntot(IAS)+Ntot (primary)+ Ntot(secondary)+ Ntot(tertiary)
Where Ntotdischarged is a total annual nitrogen load discharged from collecting systems or wastewater treatment plants [kg/y]
Ntot(coll.system) is a total annual nitrogen load discharged from collecting systems without treatment [kg/y]
Ntot (primary) is a total annual nitrogen load discharged from wastewater treatment plants with primary treatment [kg/y]
Ntot(secondary) is a total annual nitrogen load discharged from wastewater treatment plants with secondary treatment [kg/y]
Ntot(tertiary) is a total annual nitrogen load discharged from wastewater treatment plants with tertiary treatment (N, P removal) [kg/y]
For calculation of the Ntot(coll.system) and Ntot(without treatment) the population equivalent for nitrogen and phosphorus was used. For calculation of the Ntot(IAS), removal efficiencies, corresponding to the primary treatment were applied.
Two approaches were used to calculate nutrient discharged loads (Ntotdischarged and Ptotdischarged) of the domestic sector:
p.e. for Nitrogen= 12 g/d
p.e. for Phosphorus=2,5 g/d
Removal efficiency :
Nitrogen (primary)=0,15
Nitrogen (secondary)=0,35
Nitrogen (tertiary)=0,70
Phosphorus (primary)=0,10
Phosphorus (secondary)=0,20
Phosphorus (tertiary)=0,80
For these eight countries, the total discharged load was calculated according to the following formula:
Ntotdischarged= Ntot(WWTPs) + Ntot(coll.system)+Ntot(without treatment)+ Ntot(IAS)
Where Ntot(WWTPs) corresponds to the sum of discharged loads reported under the UWWTD for individual treatment plants normalised by overall entering load in population equivalent (to make adjustment for industrial share in the load entering into urban waste water treatment plants) and finally multiplied by the total population connected to UWWTPs.
Calculation of Ntot(coll.system), Ntot(without treatment) and Ntot(IAS) is explained above.
For the remaining five Member States, the gap analysis was done. Where gaps (missing data on discharged load) did not exceed 30% of the total entering load (EE, NO), data gap filling was done, with emission load values calculated (for each type of treatment) from the formulae specified below. The formulae were derived from the 13 Member State emission load datasets (for UWWTPs > 2000 p.e.) .
The formulae used for calculation of the Ntot and Ptot (primary), Ntot and Ptot (secondary), Ntot and Ptot (tertiary) express the annual nutrient load discharged as a function of the reported entering load the treatment plant, (L) [p.e].
The units for the emission factors listed below are kg/y per population equivalent entering load and the emissions include the proportions from households, services as well as connected industry.
Ntot(primary)= 0,004*L
Ntot(secondary)=0,0012*L+1,213
Ntot(tertiary)=0,0014*L, for tertiary treatment with N removal
Ntot(tertiary)=0,0009*L+9,43318, for tertiary treatment with P removal
Ntot(tertiary)=0,0008*L , for tertiary treatment with N and P removal
A similar approach was applied to the calculation of the total phosphorus discharged load.
Ptot (primary)= 0,00009*L
Ptot(secondary)=0,0002*L+0,1373
Ptot(tertiary)= 0,0001*L+1,1658, for tertiary treatment with N removal
Ptot(tertiary)=0,0001*L, for tertiary treatment with P removal
Ptot(tertiary)=0,00005*L+0,4182, for tertiary treatment with N and P removal
See the alternative approach (above) based on formulae derived from available emission load data in the UWWTD Waterbase .
No methodology references available.
No uncertainty has been specified
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/emission-intensity-of-domestic-sector/assessment or scan the QR code.
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