Mapa dotacji

Striving for 100% coverage of rural areas with sanitary sewage system is necessary for soil and water protection. However, the expanding sewage network causes serious increase in the amount of wastewater in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Now, most of WWTP operate as activated sludge technology. This is due to its high efficiency, especially in nutrients removal (preventing eutrophication). However, wastewater treatment is inherently related to the formation of sewage sludge and the amount of the sludge increases with the increase of wastewater amount and wastewater treatment efficiency. The sewage sludge management is one of the priorities of the environmental policy. Sewage sludge is treated as waste, but in the context of circular economy idea it should be treated as a resource due to the presence of valuable substances that can be recovered. These substances are crucial for protection of environment and development of sustainable agriculture. Currently, for 99% of local governments, sewage sludge is a waste and generates huge disposal costs. This problem concerns all Member States of the program area. Moreover, an important problem in sewage sludge management is its potential contamination with, e.g. microplastics, antibiotics and heavy metals. This limits or prevents use of sewage sludge. As a consequence, only a little part of the sewage sludge from small WWTP is managed. The lack of effective solutions in this area is contrary to the idea of environmental protection, respect for resources and sustainable management. The possibility of establishing cooperation between experienced research teams, will allow for the development of comprehensive and innovative solutions for management of sewage sludge from rural areas. Seed money will give an opportunity to find the proper partners, develop a rational idea for a regular project, taking into account the most up-to-date international knowledge and experience.