International Water Research Alliance Saxony

Urban Drainage and Wastewater Treatment

Team (from left to right): C. Mano (Caesb), V. Freitas (Novacap), F.W. Günthert (UniBwM), A. Amorim (UnB), N. Günther (TUD), S. Aster (UniBwM)

Introduction

Reservoir water is one of the most important fresh water resources for the drinking water supply of Brasília and its Federal District (DF). At the same time, the DF is confronted with a fast growing population, extreme climate conditions (pronounced dry season) and intensifica-tion of agriculture which will lead to problems of real water shortages in the coming years. One option to increase the water supply capacity for future generations in the DF is to use the Paranoá Lake as an additional water resource. However, the Paranoá Lake is the receiv-ing water for treated sewage of four waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). Moreover, pollu-tion from sewer leakage, waste water discharge through misconnections, local flooding up-stream of waste water pumping stations, etc. poses a major threat to the water quality and the aquatic environment. An improved water management strategy including efficient sewage systems and wastewater treatment is required to protect the water resources. As waste wa-ter discharge and treatment is highly energy-consuming (pumps, aeration, etc.), the energy aspect has to be taken into account simultaneously.

The research teams UniBwM (University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich) and TUD (University of Technology Dresden) aim to contribute and support both, the urban drainage and the wastewater treatment. The project will be supported by the Brazilian partners UnB (Universidade de Brasilia), Caesb (Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal) and Novacap (Companhia Urbanizadora da Nova Capital do Brasil).

General objectives

• improve the quality of Paranoá Lake (Paranoá as a water supply source)
• optimize the sewer and drainage network management

Methods

• prepare a pollution load model for the Paranoá Lake (together with the group “Land Consumption and Land Use”), evaluate data of a monitoring of 17 discharging points within the Paranoá basin done by Caesb between 2003-2006 and support the imple-mentation of a new monitoring program for storm water discharging points (together with the group “water quality”)
• introduce a benchmarking (sewers and wastewater treatment plants)
• develop and propose a concept for efficient sewer management
• consider alternative storm water management methods
• select advanced waste water treatment techniques, implement and test a pilot plant, develop and propose a model using the waste water treatment plants treatment ca-pacity under storm water conditions and consider alternative sludge treatment tech-niques
• realize a basic energy study (wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations)

Participating research groups

• K. Neder, N. Azzolin, C. Mano; Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal (Caesb)
• V. Freitas; Companhia Urbanizadora da Nova Capital do Brasil (Novacap)
• Prof. A. Amorim, Prof. Koide; Universidade de Brasilia – Departamento de Engenharia Civil e Ambiental (UnB)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. F.W. Günthert, Dipl.-Ing. S. Aster, Dipl.-Wirt.- Ing. M.Sc. M. Holtorff; Universität der Bundeswehr München – Institut für Wasserwesen (UniBwM)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. P. Krebs; Dipl.-Ing. N. Günther; Technische Universität Dresden – Institut für Siedlungs- und Industriewasserwirtschaft (TU Dresden)

Contact

Prof. Dr.-Ing. F.W. Günthert
University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich
Department of Hydroscience
Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39
85577 Neubiberg – Germany
Phone: +49 89 6004-2156, -3484
Fax: +49 89 6004-3858
wolfgang.guenthert@uni.bw.de


Prof. Dr.-Ing. P. Krebs
Dresden University of Technology
Institute for Urban Water Management
George Bähr Str. 1
01062 Dresden – Germany
Phone: +49 351 463 35257
Fax : +49 351 463 37204
peter.krebs@tu-dresden.de