To meet increasing demands regarding water pollution control and the reuse of treated wastewater (potable or non-potable) in areas with water shortage, sewage treatment beyond the current standards is required. This can be achieved by implementing one or more additional process steps to remove microorganisms and micropollutants. Micropollutants include organic trace compounds (as for example pharmaceutically active compounds and hormones), antibiotic resistant bacteria, nanoparticles, and microplastics, which may pose a risk to the aquatic environment and thus also to our drinking water.
In this lecture, you will be introduced to the scientific basics and the current technologies of advanced wastewater treatment in terms of oxidation, adsorption, disinfection and membrane separation processes as well as the legal side of the topic (environmental quality standards, reuse guidelines). Selected examples and case studies will be presented to demonstrate the practical application of advanced wastewater treatment, reuse technologies and guidelines.
Additionally, you will gain an insight into the fundamentals of risk management, which plays a decisive role in the use of recycled water. You will get to know an approach that is not aiming at the best possible water quality, but at providing treatment that is "fit for purpose". You will find out how diverse the requirements on the water quality and on the management of recycled wastewater are, depending on the reuse applications, and learn about the specific meaning of keywords like "log reduction (LR)", "multiple barrier principle", "hazardous event" and "DALY".
