ISPA Information Sheet Measure

No: 2000/PL/16/P/PE/004

Measure title : waste water treatment

Authorities responsible for implementation

3.1. Name: City of Katowice

3.1.2 Address: 4, Mlynska St. 40-098 Katowice,

3.2.1 Name: National Fund for Environmental Protection

3.2.2 Address: Konstruktorska 3A 00-673 Warsaw, Poland

Location

Beneficiary country: Poland

Region: Upper

Dscription

Katowice is the capital of the region of Silesia and has a population of nearly 350,000. It also forms part of a densely populated agglomeration of industrial cities in Silesia with a population of over 2 million inhabitants.

The current project forms part of a much larger scheme in the agglomeration now underway that includes the closure of five small treatment plants and an increase in the connection rate to a waste water collection system from 95 to 99% of the population over five years. All of the waste water will be treated in five large treatment plants which comply with Polish and EU standards.

The project described here concerns the Rawa river basin and the drainage area of the Gigablok Centrum treatment plant. The Rawa forms part of the river basin. It is one of the main receivers of industrial and municipal waste water in the Silesian agglomeration and in its middle section it flows through the centre of Katowice city. At present the Rawa is one of the main sources of water pollution in the Silesian region. The area has been seriously affected by subsidence from the extensive mining activity in the area over many decades. The average age of sewers in the city is 80 years and they were not protected against the effects of mining operations. Also, some of the sewers are too small for current loads.

The current project will include two elements:

- 1 - 1. Construction of new sewer networks to increase the rate of connection to the treatment plant and reconstruction existing sewers especially along the Rawa river that are either too small for planned loads or damaged by subsidence, plus associated works (power cabling, three storm overflows) The cost will be € 15 million and the work will be carried out in three stages between mid-2002 and end-2005:

I : new gravitational sewer on left bank of the Rawa with connecting pipelines which will connect a further 22,000 people to the treatment plant II: new gravitational sewer along Rawa river and three trunk sewers with separate storm sewers III: reconstruction of existing sewers in the city centre with reconnection to the existing network and rainwater overflows.

The total length of these network extensions and reconstruction will be 914 m of pressure sewer and 6707m of gravitational sewer. The cost per metre will be higher than usual in Poland because the pipelines must be designed to flex and will use longer connectors than usual to cope with continuing subsidence. Also the building of new sewers and the reconstruction of existing pipelines in very poor condition in built-up areas will add to the cost of the work.

2. The Gigablok Centrum treatment plant has a treatment capacity of 180,000 p.e. but only 92,000 of the 178,000 inhabitants within the drainage area of the plant are connected to it. The sewerage construction and rebuilding will connect a further 56,000 inhabitants to the plant bring the percentage of the population connected from 52% now to 83% by end-2004. The city plans to bring the total connected to over 95% in a later phase of the project. The plant suffers from poor treatment efficiency, sludge management problems, corrosion, high energy consumption and health risks to the operating personnel (e g. tanks cleaned manually).

The second part of this project will be the modernisation of the infrastructure to produce a plant with a capacity of 180,000 p.e. (49,000m³/day) which fully complies with Polish and EU standards and which will have tertiary treatment. The works will involve improvements to most parts of the existing plant including screens, sand traps, primary and secondary sedimentation tanks, aeration basins, sludge dewatering, digestion and storage and the construction of rainwater retention tanks. The cost of this part of the project will be € 25 million.

The reminder of the cost (€10 million) will cover further design, site preparation, supervision during construction, technical assistance for the project implementation unit, contingencies and minor costs not attributed to either of the main sections of the project.

The treatment plant will treat a relatively small amount of waste water from industrial sources (approximately 4,700 p.e. out of a total capacity of 180,00 p.e.). This is because there are very few polluting industries or excess sludge from sceptic tanks within the catchment area of the treatment plant. An analysis of the industrial waste water has shown parameters very close to those of household waste water indicating that there will be no particular problems with the treatment of waste water from industrial sources.

The technical design and cost of the project was evaluated by external consultants (Tractebel and Allplan) employed by DG Regional Policy. They found the condition of

- 2 - the existing collection system and the Gigablok Centrum treatment plant to be "poor" and a high priority for investment. The consultants confirmed that the basic design was sound, subject to some minor technical modifications, and can achieve all EU treatment standards.

Objectives

• Modernisation of the waste water treatment plant to achieve compliance with the Urban Waste Water Directive (91/271/EEC) for all waste water collected in the drainage area of the Gigablok Centrum treatment plant • Extending the sewered area by adding a further 56,000 inhabitants to the collection system • End risk of flooding and end untreated discharge to the Rawa river through 18 outlets and malfunctioning storm overflows with reduction of odour and health risks. • Compliance with the Sewerage Sludge Directive (86/278/EC) for treatment and disposal of sludge, sand and screenings • Improve the energy efficiency of the plant and remove health risks to operating personnel

Environmental impact analysis

The type of infrastructure investment in the project falls within the type of projects covered by Annex II of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directives (85/337/EEC, as amended by 97/11/EC). These are project types for which an EIA is not automatically required. In this case, the Polish authorities decided to carry out an EIA. This was completed and approved by the competent environmental authorities in 2000.

Cost and assistance (in EURO)

Total cost Private sector Ineligible cost Total eligible ISPA grant Grant contribution cost Rate % 51 230 000 0 710 000 50 520 000 30 312 000 60

Involvement of IFIs

The European Investment Bank has approved a global loan of € 20 million to support municipal infrastructure development in Katowice. Part of this loan will be allocated to the ISPA project but the precise amount has not yet been decided.

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