Can you imagine a life without pure water for drinking? We require clean water for our daily use, for our animals and to use in the industries all over the world. Getting clean water some years back was simply because the world was not as populated as it is today. The areas where people could get spring water have now been replaced by settlements, and the sources of clean water are diminishing day by day. The limited safe water that we have left is being contaminated in different ways like household and industrial waste, sewages and garbage to name just a few. The contaminated water is what we call wastewater, and the good news is that it can be treated, purified and reused as safe water.

Many countries have been in the frontline in the treatment of wastewater, and one of these countries is Poland, which has numerous water treatment plants in almost all its cities. This noble venture of purification of wastewater for reuse comes with many advantages apart from the provision of clean water to the humanity. When we take Warsaw, for example, we will find that it 1.8 million populations are being served by two wastewater treatment plants, which are Poludnie and Czajka. Not all the wastewater is treated here as some sewage flows into the Vistula River. This will only be stopped by the expansion of Czajka plant.

A Chance for Private Firms to Invest

Through serious research that leads to engineering and technological developments, Poland is now able to control the negative effects that are brought about by waste water. In the process, the country is reaping many benefits that touch different areas like health, economy and obviously development. The densely populated areas like western side of Vistula River produce a lot of wastewater in the form of sewage, industrial effluents and domestic wastes. The setting up of the two treatment plants (Poludnie and Czajka) has improved the health standards a great deal. Before 2004 when the country joined the European Union, most of the wastewater was being directed into the river and down the waste flowed into the Baltic Sea. Contaminating a major water body turns the problem into a global hazards and that is why different organizations are up in arms to join the push for the management of wastewater down from the smallest entities to the national level.

Unlike some other technologies, the technology used in wastewater management is not static. The process is being improved through new developments, which is focused towards improving the performance of the treatment plants. The process has to be made more cost effective through compact layouts that are simple to put up and manage. In terms of the amount of generation of the wastewater, however, the size of a treatment plant such as Czajka required heavy funding hence the European Union had to invest so that the plant could be standardized. A collection system that stretches for about 30 kilometers is not a simple installation for a government to do single-handedly. The single investment in the Czajka treatment plant went beyond 3 billion zlotys. The idea of constructing such a plant is to handle even the future needs keeping in mind that the population will still grow more.

The need for pure quality water in Poland could not be realized without the installation of high quality water and wastewater treatment technology. All the treatment plants in this country have been constructed according to the strict rules of the European Union. An example is the plant in Zabre, which has the capability of removing biogenic compounds through the ‘Bardenpho’ process. The high quality Grundfos pumps enhance the effectiveness of this plant and they are now being installed in most of the modern sewerage systems globally.

Public Funds Incentives

There is a significant opportunity of investment in Poland’s wastewater treatment industry. Some organizations may be put off by the fact that there is little privatization in the industry but not all municipalities do the treatment on their own. Some municipalities like Dabrowa Gornicza, Glogow and Gdansk have a number of private organizations that do the treatment with funding from the Fund for Environmental Protection. Financial institutions like the European Bank of Investment and the EBRD provide the funds as loans to the public and private sectors. This is another benefit where creation of employment comes in through the outsourcing of labor that the private companies do when after they have been contracted to upgrade wastewater treatment plants, improve the handling of sludge and the treated water. What many firms fear when they want to do huge government contracts is the amount of investments involved. In this case, of wastewater treatment in Poland investors will not have to worry about startups because the funding is ready for them.

There will obviously be increased consumption of water and the generation of the effluents too. Poland will be on the safe side if it continues the integration of upcoming technologies with the improved engineering innovations. The European Union strict regulations and funding has assisted the country to deal with 50% of the effluents but a lot has to be done to counter the projected increase in the waste. Collaborating with the private sector and non-governmental organizations will help in;

•    The treatment and disposal of sludge
•    Development and provision of equipments and software to automate the treatment and control
•    Modernization of the control systems
•    Monitoring of the causes of pollution as well as developing the prevention methods

Sludge, which is a by-product of wastewater treatment process has to be improved, with large treatment plants using the anaerobic digesters. Smaller plants use aerobic digesters. The most used method of dewatering process is by mechanical means, which is a bit faster and easily controlled.

Poland is yet to get to the level of its European counterparts in wastewater management, and this shows that there are prospects of investment as the country strives to improve its systems. Provision of the right equipments will be required even down to the rural areas that are overlooked due to their low population.