The Condition of Sanitary Infrastructure in the Parczew District and the Need for Its Development
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Journal of Ecological Engineering Received: 2018.05.01 Accepted: 2018.06.15 Volume 19, Issue 5, September 2018, pages 107–115 Published: 2018.09.01 https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993/92674 The Condition of Sanitary Infrastructure in the Parczew District and the Need for its Development Agnieszka Micek1, Michał Marzec1*, Karolina Jóźwiakowska2, Patrycja Pochwatka1 1 Department of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Leszczyńskiego 7, 20-069 Lublin, Poland 2 Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warszawa, Poland * Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to present the current state and the need for development of sanitary infrastructure in the communes of Parczew District, in Lublin Voivodeship. Parczew District encompasses seven communes: Parczew, Dębowa Kłoda, Jabłoń, Milanów, Podedwórze, Siemień, and Sosnowica. The present paper uses the data from the surveys conducted in these communes in 2016. On average, 88% of the population used the water supply system in the communes surveyed, while 48% of the inhabitants were connected to a sewerage system. Parczew District had 12 collective mechanical and biological wastewater treatment plants with a capacity exceeding 5 m3/d. The households which were not connected to the sewerage network discharged the wastewater mainly to non-return tanks. In the communes surveyed, 1,115 households had domestic wastewater treatment plants. All of them were systems with infiltration drainage, which do not ensure high efficiency of removing pollutions and may even contribute to the degradation of the groundwater quality. In order to solve the existing problems of sewage and water management in the communes of Parczew District, it is necessary to further develop the collective sewerage systems and equip the areas which have a dispersed development layout with highly efficient domestic treatment plants, such as constructed wetlands. Keywords: sanitary infrastructure; commune; water supply system; sewerage system; wastewater treatment plant; septic tank INTRODUCTION ing water supply and sewage removal systems in urban and rural areas. This increase has been con- After joining the European Union, Poland has nected not only with the requirements of environ- undertaken to comply with the legal provisions mental protection, but above all with the better regarding the sound management and protection possibilities of financing the investments with the of water. The changes that had to be introduced EU funds. In addition to the ecological and eco- into the national law and the need to adjust this nomic effects, the development of the technical law to the requirements of the Water Framework and sanitary infrastructure brings many benefits Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000, as well of a social and economic nature, as it contributes as the Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May to improving the living conditions of the inhabit- 1991 concerning urban wastewater treatment, ants and the development of entrepreneurship. prompted local government bodies to take ac- The statistical data show that the length of tions aimed at developing the water and sewerage the water supply and sewerage systems as well infrastructure [Jóźwiakowski and Pytka 2010]. as the number of water supply and sewage dis- For this reason, in recent years there has been a posal facilities in Poland have significantly grown significant increase in the investments into build- in the recent years. The length of the water sup- 107 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 19(5), 2018 ply system increased from 245,600 km in 2005 to sanitary infrastructure and the need for expanding 301,000 km in 2016. In rural areas, the increase this infrastructure in Parczew District (county), was from 190,700 km to 233,200 km, and the which constitutes one of the 24 districts of Lublin number of households connected to the system Voivodeship. The analyses were carried out us- grew by 25.3%. In the period of 2005–2016, ing the official statistical data and the results of the length of the sewerage network increased surveys conducted in 2016 in seven communes of by 73,900 km (92.2%), reaching 154,000 km in Parczew District by the employees of the Depart- 2016. In rural areas, the length of the sewerage ment of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy network increased by 53,600 km (146%). The in- of the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. The crease was larger than in cities, where 20,300 km surveys identified the percentage of the popula- of new pipelines were laid (an increase by 46.8%) tion having access to public water supply and [GUS 2017a]. sanitation systems and the number of non-return In 2016, almost 91.9% of the total population tanks as well as collective and domestic wastewa- used the water supply network (a 5.8% increase ter treatment plants. compared to 2005). In urban areas, over 95.5% of inhabitants had access to a water supply system (an increase of 1.2% compared to 2005). In rural CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PARCZEW areas, the proportion of people using the water DISTRICT supply network in 2016 was 85%. As far as the sewerage systems are concerned, in the period of Parczew District is located in the north- 2005–2016, the percentage of people having ac- eastern part of Lublin Voivodeship and occupies cess to a sanitation network increased from 59.2% an area of 952 km2, i.e. 3.8% of the area of the to 70.2% (an 11.0% increase). In cities, 90.0% of province (Figure 1). The district is inhabited by the population used the sewage system (a 5.2% 36,147 people, who constitute 1.7% of the prov- increase), whereas in rural areas, the proportion ince’s population. It borders with the districts of was 40.3% (a 21.5% increase) [GUS 2017a]. Lubartów, Radzyń, Biała Podlaska, Włodawa, In 2016, there were 3,319 collective sewage and Łęczna. The following communes belong treatment plants in Poland, including 763 facili- to Parczew District: Parczew, Milanów, Jabłoń, ties located in cities and towns, and 2,556 in the Podedwórze, Siemień, Dębowa Kłoda, andi Sos- countryside [GUS 2017b]. In villages with dis- nowica (Figure 2) [SYNERGIA. Advisory Office, persed housing, wastewater was discharged into 2013]. The largest area is occupied by Dębowa non-return tanks or domestic wastewater treat- Kłoda Commune, whereas the smallest by Pod- ment plants. In 2016, there were 2,333,000 such edwórze (Table 1). The population density in the facilities, out of which about 91% were non-re- county varies over a very wide range from 16 turn tanks, and about 9% were domestic waste- 2 water treatment plants. For several years now, a people/km in the communes of Podedwórze and 2 systematic decrease in the number of non-return Sosnowica to 101 people/km in Parczew Com- tanks has been observed, while the number of do- mune (Table 1). mestic sewage treatment plants has been on the In terms of the physical-and-geographical increase. In 2016, the number of non-return tanks units, Parczew District extends over the area of was 2,117,000, whereas the number of domestic three regions of the Western Polesie macroregion: wastewater treatment plants amounted to 217,000 Równina Parczewska (the Parczew Plain, north- [GUS 2017a]. eastern part of the district), Pojezierze Łęczyńsko- These data show that after the Poland’s acces- Włodawskie (the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District, sion to the European Union, the increase in water southern part of the district) and Garb Włodawski and sewerage infrastructure investments in towns (the Włodawa Elevation, between the Parczew and villages was much larger than in the early Plain and the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District) 1990s [Jóźwiakowski and Pytka 2010]. Never- [SYNERGY. Advisory Office, 2013]. theless, there are still great disproportions among Parczew District is a typically agricultural Polish cities and villages regarding the access to area, which, at the same time, uses its landscape water supply and sewage removal systems. These and natural resources to create a welcoming en- disparities are most prominent in rural areas. vironment for tourism and leisure activities. The The aim of the present study was to evalu- agricultural land constitutes about 67% of the to- ate the state of the development pertaining to the tal area of the district; about 26% of the district 108 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 19(5), 2018 Fig. 1. Geographical location of Parczew District Fig. 2. The communes of Parczew District 109 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 19(5), 2018 Table 1. Characteristics of the communes of Parczew District Name of Population density Proportion of district area Area [km2] Population commune [people/km2] occupied by the commune [%] Parczew 147 14 860 101 15.42 Dębowa Kłoda 188 4009 21 19.72 Jabłoń 110 3947 36 11.54 Milanów 117 4052 35 12.27 Podedwórze 107 1749 16 11.22 Siemień 111 4802 43 11.64 Sosnowica 171 2728 16 17.94 [SYNERGY. Advisory Office, 2013] is occupied by woodlands, which are considered conditions for the development of tourism and to be a touristically valuable element of the land- recreation as well as the production of healthy scape and ecosystem. The district’s varied soil food. Apart from enjoying the natural assets of types (quality-wise) provide a basis for grow- the district, tourists can also visit some histori- ing not only cereals, but, increasingly often, also cal buildings, including churches, manor houses herbs (chamomile, mint, valerian). The prevailing and palaces as well as former Uniate Orthodox soil valuation classes are arable land (63%) and churches [http1]. permanent grasslands (30%) [US Lublin 2017]. In order to keep the district’s natural environ- Parczew District boasts many highly valu- ment, with its numerous conservation areas and able natural features.