The best practices

Ukrainian version

News

ZAPORIZHIA

Wastewater Sediment Treatment and Recycling Project

The Historic Background

The city of Zaporizhia has long face the problems relating to disposal and recycling of the sediments accumulated as a result of activities of the municipal sewerage cleanup and purification system. As things now stand, the left-bank wastewater purification facilities have collected more than 350 thousand tons of wastewater sediments currently disposed on a 62-hectare site; as for the right-bank wastewater purification facilities, the accumulations total 30 thousand tons disposed on a 25-hectare site.

Timely removal, effective decontamination and utilization of the sediments and other waste products is ranked among the most serious environmental and economic problems of the city. Economic considerations comprise the most reasonable argument to support the sediment utilization ideas, since accumulation and disposal of such a great amount of wastes proves to be very expensive. Suffice it to say that the Zaporizhia State Communal “Vodocanal” [Water Supply] Company paid UAH 70,000 to 100,000 per year in the period of 1996 to 1999 for the wastes disposal and accumulation services.

Innovations

The municipal administration executive committee put forward a project designed to develop a technology that would enable to accumulate the sediment in waste banks and recycle it for production of organic-and-mineral fertilizers. Contracted for the project were the following organizations and institutions:

• Agriculture Mechanization and Electrification Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences;
• Plant Physiology and Genetics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
• The Zaporizhia-based Regional Experimental Agricultural Station;
• The Zaporizhia-based Regional Communal Agricultural Enterprise “Zaporizh-zelenbud”;
• A task team composed of representatives from the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, Bohomolets National Medical University, Technical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Zaporizhia Regional Sanitary-and-epidemiological Station.

“The Organic-and-Mineral Fertilizers Production Venture” Project was supported by the Canadian Center of the International Development Research funding (IDRC).

Based on preliminary feasibility studies, the task team developed the following two programs: “The Organic-and-mineral Fertilizers Production and Application Technology Based on the Sewage Sediment Recycling” and “Planting Trees on Sandy Territories Using Organic-and-mineral Fertilizers Produced from the Sewage Sediments”. The both programs were green-lighted by approval of the State Committee for Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy of Ukraine.

A yearly production capacity of the planned organic-and-mineral fertilizer production line in the city of Zaporizhia will come to 75.6 thousand tons. Operational period of the line will be restricted to the period of the year when outdoor daily temperatures are above 0^OC. An estimated production cost of the fertilizer is about USD 1.3 per ton. Investments in the production line will be paid back in 4.2 years.

As things now stand, there is a regulatory framework in place for the organic-and-mineral fertilizers production from sewage wastes; the task team has also received a toxicological-and-hygienic certificate for the fertilizers and developed technical specifications for their application. All these documents have been agreed upon with and approved by the relevant regulatory organizations of Ukraine.

The above-described developments are being directly applied in practical activities in the city of Zaporizhia:

• The Zaporizhia State Communal “Vodocanal” Water Supply Company now produces organic-and-mineral fertilizers from the sewage wastes. The Company uses a stirring-and-aeration machine designed by the Kyiv-based Agriculture Mechanization and Electrification Institute for compost stirring, waste bank formation and compost aeration processes.
• Based on the “Vodocanal” Company Central Waste Treatment Station #1, the project team has established a production subdivision “Flora”. The positive practical experience of the organic-and-mineral fertilizers production from the sewage wastes enables the “Flora” subdivision to produce compost, a high-quality commercial product that serves an excellent substitute for organic fertilizers.
• In 2000 the Zaporizhia Communal “Vodocanal” Company initiated and summoned an experience-sharing national workshop with participation of representatives from a wide variety of “Vodocanal” water utilities from the largest cities of Ukraine. The event was sponsored by the State Committee for Construction, Achitecture and Housing policy of Ukraine that also helped as a co-organizer of the workshop.
• High effectiveness of the organic-and-mineral fertilizers produced by the Company was demonstrated in practical program of trees planning in the “Southern” housing estate of the Zaporizhia city that has been constructed on alluvial sand basis.

Contact information:

69600, Zaporizhzhia
61 Artema Street,
“Vodocanal” State Municipal Enterprise
tel.# (0612) 642385, 643519,
“Flora” Company
Director: Doroshev Olexandr,
Tel.# (0612) 950003