nontechnicalsummary.docVIP

Non Technical Summary Project Overview The town of Ogulin in northern Croatia has long-held problems of wastewater and stormwater treatment and disposal. At present the majority of the households discharge their wastewater without prior treatment into septic tanks or directly into the nearby sinkholes where it enters the local groundwaters. Stormwater drainage is disposed of in a similar manner, and the increase in hard surfaces that has accompanied urbanisation has resulted in not only a considerable increase in the flow of stormwaters, but also in their levels of pollution. Heavy precipitation also commonly results in clogging of sinkholes and local flooding, which in turn impacts on local hygiene, ecology and economy. The proposed project would involve the establishment of a 13 km trunk sewer and associated branch lines for the collection of domestic and industrial sewage effluent from the town of Ogulin and stormwater from high flood risk area. Effluent from the proposed sewer infrastructure will flow to a new tertiary wastewater treatment plant which will use biological means to treat the sewerage effluent to an acceptable standard before discharge to the groundwater environment via an adjacent sinkhole. The plant will produce a stabilised sludge, which will be disposed of to an appropriately engineered domestic landfill. The proposed sewer system and wastewater treatment plant will be developed in a number of stages: Phase 1: An initial trunk sewer has already been installed to collect stormwater from high risk flood areas of the town. The stormwater effluent will be pumped in phase 2 to the wastewater treatment plant, where it will be treated mechanically via an oil and sand trap before discharge to the adjacent sinkhole. Phase 2: Under this phase further sewers will be built, together with the wastewater treatment plant to allow the treatment of wastewaters to a tertiary standard. The plant will use an activated sludge and membrane filtration me