Authorities, public utilities and knowledge institutes in the Øresund Region have joined forces to establish The Source Partnership – a partnership whose main objective is to reduce wastewater discharges, which are both hazardous to public health and to the environment (priority substances).
The majority of the sources (industries, hospitals, waste deposits, etc.) with discharges of priority substances are located in sewer catchments upstream of urban waste water treatment plants. The urban treatment plants are designed to remove organic matter and nutrients, while the priority substances on the other hand will pass through the treatment plants to the receiving waters or accumulate in the sludge. Sewer and treatment plant workers can also be exposed. The prevention and reduction at the sources are necessary if the health and environmental risks from the substances are to be minimised.
The objectives of The Source Partnership are to build up and exchange knowledge on tracking methods, prevention and pre-treatment technologies as well as authority regulations of the wastewater sources. A cornerstone for the future public work in both Denmark and Sweden is the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD describes the implementation of the measures necessary to reduce the pollution from priority substances. The project will strengthen the local authorities’ preparation of the action plans in this field.
The project partners are: The Municipality of Hvidovre (Project manager), The County of Skåne, The Municipality of Malmö, SYSAV AB, The Municipality of Helsingborg, The Municipality of Gladsaxe, Lynettefællesskabet I/S and The Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The University of Lund and DHI - Water & Environment are project consultants.
Additional information:
Project homepage: www.kildesamarbejdet.org
Project coordinator: Ulf Nielsen. E-mail: uln@dhigroup.com. Telephone: +45 4516 9440
The project is partly financed by Interreg IIIA Øresund Region