BUUF Report September 20, 2003
BUUF ENKÖPING CONFERENCE ON WATER MANAGEMENT
The Baltic University Urban Forum Best Practice Conference on water management on 7-8 September
was hosted by Enköping, just west of Stockholm. A total of 40 participants, representing 9
teams, were present. The conference lasted from Sunday at 4.00 pm to about Monday 5.00 pm, that
is about 1.5 days, 4 hours on the first day and 8 hours on the second. This may provide a pattern
for future best practice conferences.
The first half day featured four thematic presentations of external experts. These were Prof.
Bengt Hultman, head of the Division of Water Management at KTH; Gunnar Norén, Secretary
General in Coalition Clean Baltic; Mats Wallin, researcher at Uppsala Water Centre and participating
in the development of the EC Water Framework Directives (WFD); and finally Steen Bjergaard, Project
Director at Stockholm Water, the Water company in Stockholm with extensive projects in several of
the Baltic Sea countries. To the list was next day added Assoc. Prof Lars-Christer Lundin, Dept of
Hydrology at Uppsala University, talking of groundwater.
Wastewater treatment is mostly conventional
The conference received an excellent background to the present situation of water and wastewater
management in the Baltic Sea Region. In the very extensive development of water management, with
major wastewater treatment facilities now built in e.g. Kaunas, Riga and St Petersburg, it is clear
that conventional solutions almost always are chosen. The smaller municipality of Kosakowo e.g.
sends its wastewater to the large treatment plant in Gdynia. Although Gunnar Norén gave many
examples of the advantages of small scale more local solutions, these are more seldom considered,
which may be a mistake.
EC Water Framework Directives (WFD)
It is remarkable that, even if the EU countries are expected (by law!) to have established river
basin authorities by 22 of December this year, these are not in place. From this
follows that we do
not know how the municipalities will relate to these future authorities, which are expected to have
considerable power both legally and economically. It is clear that extensive monitoring and
reporting routines will have to be implemented, but not how it should be done, and that all surface
water that is polluted should be addressed in a management plan. The long-term goal of the WFD is
that all surface water should be in good condition by year 2014.
A modern water company
Stockholm Water, a case of a modern water company, is not only providing the citizens with good
water and takes care of the wastewater. It is also e.g. using the excess temperature in the
wastewater (using heat pumps) to sell hot water, and it ferments its sludge and sell biogas
(methane) e.g. to busses. At present no company sells fertilisers based on phosphorus in sludge
but it may happen in the future. A company is economically self sufficient through charges for
the water. Due to the charges the water consumption in the region is, since several years,
steadily declining, and is approaching just over 100 liters per day and persons in households.
In some countries in the EU the water companies are private, but in the BSR they are normally
municipality-owned.
Best practices
The following day Enköping demonstrated several of its solutions to water management.
They were characterized by integrated management of energy, waste and water problems, and an
ecological approach to management of nutrients. It was especially interesting to see how wastewater
was pumped out to a large field of
Salix (energy forest). The plants grow up to a height of
some 5 meters in three years (production is up to 10 tonnes per ha and year), and could then be
harvested and used as biomass in the energy plant. In the soil about 50 % of the nitrogen was
converted to molecular nitrogen through denitrification. The Salix plants also accumulated cadmium
and in this way contributed to improving the soil.
Much of the storm water was channeled to a series of dams or small lakes, which were part of the
so called "water landscape" park. Also here a considerable reduction of nutrients took
place. The outgoing water continued to Lake Mälaren the recipient, which is an excellent lake
for beaches and swimming.
Although the production of biomass for energy purposes was not the major intention with the
Salix plantation it contributed in an important way. Other sources of energy was biomass pellets
from other parts of the municipality and its surrounding, and household waste. All together, the
district heating of the municipality, which is most of the heating of houses, is almost completely
fossil fuel free, a fact that impressed the conference enormously.
INDICATORs and booklet of best practices
The conference discussed in some detail how to set up a good system of indicators in the water
area. A list of six indicators were the result of the discussion and it will now be the job of
the BUUF Scientific Council to finalise these. The Scientific Council will also produce a booklet
of best practices in the water management area, and of course some of the cases from Enköping
will be described in this. The report that the municipalities will have to put together for the
first project year, that is 2003, will have to build on existing data. The instruction for that
report will be issued later.
MATERIAL DISTRIBUTED
A total of 15 different books, papers, OH-series etc were distributed during the conference.
Together with the future booklet of best practices in the water management area these will
constitute the resource library for the water area. Those municipalities that were not represented at
the conference the material will be sent by post or provided at the next occasion. It will be
invoiced to those having funds for that, especially all those with an Interreg budget.
Reporting Lars Rydén
