Wastewater Treatment to be Resolved in and around Zalaegerszeg 21 October 2010
Wastewater drainage and treatment will become available in the town of Zalaegerszeg and in 41 surrounding communities with a grant of almost 9.9 billion HUF from the Cohesion Fund. The total budget of this project exceeds 13 billion HUF.
The town of Zalaegerszeg and the neighbouring communities use a shared wastewater drainage system and have their wastewater treated in the Wastewater Plant of Zalaegerszeg. All these communities are located in the water collection area of the Zala river, which carries the bulk of the water volume flowing into Lake Balaton. Protection of the water quality of Lake Balaton is a special priority in Hungary’s environment protection policy. Accordingly, the valley of the Zala river is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in Hungary (1/1 water protection category). The Zala river is the main source of the organic load of Lake Balaton, especially the load of phosphorus and nitrogen. One way of protecting the lake is the widest possible canalization in the communities situated in the water collection area, coupled with treatment of the wastewater of these communities, in order to reduce the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen entering the Zala river.
Under the National Communal Wastewater Drainage and Treatment Implementation Programme, all the communities situated in the water collection area of the Zala river will have to be among the first to solve drainage and treatment of the wastewater generated. This is why it became necessary to expand the biological capacity of the wastewater treatment plant and to commission a new sludge treatment system.
As a result of the project, the technological development of the central wastewater cleaning plant has been completed. It included the development of wastewater treatment and wastewater sludge treatment, as well as the utilization of biogas. Technical protection has been implemented for the wastewater sludge deposits. The technical conditions of wastewater sludge storage, placement and utilization have been upgraded, and the three regional pipe branches connected to the wastewater treatment plant have been reinforced.
In eight communities new wastewater drainage networks have been created. The parts of the sewage network implemented in a single system in the centre of Zalaegerszeg have been separated. A new network was built in the parts of the town where this facility had not been available before.