Managing organic micropollutants in rivers - From monitoring to mitigation

Samenvatting (Engelstalig)

Organic micropollutants (OMPs) are widely found in the aquatic environment and water managers are confronted with new challenges: To measure and evaluate the occurrence of OMPs and to find adequate measures to mitigate OMPs. Therefore, application-oriented research was performed to understand the origin and fate of wastewater associated OMPs and to find a treatment solution to reduce OMP emissions to rivers. We monitored OMP emissions from sewage treatment plants and OMPs in the river itself and assessed the OMP concentration variability, their dependency on environmental conditions and technical specifications of the sewage treatment plants. As a treatment method to reduce OMP emissions, a special configuration of constructed wetlands was investigated for its ability to reduce OMP concentration. We showed that the method is effective to reduce OMPs from sewage treatment plant outlets and combined sewer overflows (raw sewer mixed with rain water) and is ready for implementation.