Amendments and prospects of the statutory regulation of wastewater and pollution discharges by water utilities and their customers

Summary

The background and dynamics of the environmental legislation amendments related to the water supply and wastewater disposal, and statutory regulation related to effluent and pollution discharges from public wastewater disposal systems are described. The results of applying the enactments related to wastewater disposal are stated that provided for the successive correction of the statutory regulations related to the public wastewater disposal systems beginning from 2014. The analysis of water-protective measures taken by the customers is presented in light of abandoning the state regulation of wastewater discharge into the public wastewater disposal systems. The
evaluation of the results of the amendments of «The rules of cold water supply and wastewater disposal» adopted in 2016 in relation to the customers of SUE «Vodokanal of St. Petersburg» is presented. The successive approximation of the Russian requirements to the wastewater composition and properties set with the purpose of preventing the negative impact on the public wastewater disposal systems with similar European requirements is shown. The novations coming into effect from January 1, 2019 of Federal Law No. 219-FZ «On the amendments to the Federal Law «On environmental protection» and separate enactments of the Russian Federation» and Federal Law No. 225-FZ of July 29, 2017 «On the amendments to the Federal Law «On water supply and wastewater disposal» and separate enactments of the Russian Federation» related to the system of the wastewater utilities introducing the best available techniques are stated. The prospects of the future development of the environmental regulations and legislation on water supply and wastewater disposal in relation to the regulation of the discharges by wastewater utilities and discharges to the public wastewater disposal systems by the customers are stated.

Key words

discharge limitations , best available technology , technological indicators , public wastewater disposal systems , negative impact by wastewater and pollution , effluent standard

Specific features of the transition to the process regulation of public wastewater disposal systems

Summary

The results of the analysis of proposed laws and regulations in furtherance of the legislation on process regulation of public wastewater disposal systems are presented. Pros and cons of the new regulation system are considered. The necessity of revising the maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants in effluent discharged into a water body is substantiated. The problem of excessive environmental requirements to effluent discharges that had been in power for many years in the country did not lose relevance in 2019. Permissible concentrations of substances discharged into water bodies remained on average two times tighter than in European countries. The purpose of the work was to substantiate proposals for amending approved and developing regulatory legal acts. To achieve this goal domestic and European legislation related to the process regulation was analyzed and compared. The existing system of dividing water bodies into categories is unnecessarily complicated and has an obvious imbalance (up to 95%) towards fisheries and standards; therefore it is proposed to approve three categories of water bodies to establish standards for the discharge of effluents from public wastewater disposal systems: premium fisheries category, primary fisheries category, public household category with evaluation criteria according to the existing methodology.

Key words

best available techniques , technological rate setting , public wastewater disposal systems , standard for discharge into a water body , water body categories

Development of a combined drainage system within the boundaries of the historical settlement of Samara

Summary

The paper dwells upon the development of a combined drainage system within the boundaries of the historical settlement of Samara. The issues of centralized storm sewer systems that discharge their effluents into the Saratov reservoir, are considered. Of particular interest is the historical part of the city where architectural and historical monuments are located including an egg-shaped sewer laid at the beginning of the twentieth century. The effect of water consumption reduction on the fill rate of the pipelines and underloading of the municipal wastewater treatment facilities is shown. The physicochemical composition of surface runoff, as well as maximum permissible concentrations for the Volga River are considered. To correct the situation, using regulating (storage) tanks is proposed to develop a centralized combined drainage system at ten outfalls into the Volga and Samara rivers. A general sequence for the regulation, treatment and discharge of surface runoff has been developed presented in the horizontal diagram of the discharge of surface runoff. Possible development of a combined drainage system with the use of regulating tanks in a public storm sewer for the outfalls located within the boundaries of the historical part of Samara will solve the problem of removing surface runoff and provide for the partial additional workload on the municipal wastewater treatment facilities.

Key words

reconstruction , surface runoff , public wastewater disposal systems , combined drainage system , historical settlement