Treatment of toilet wastewater for reuse in a membrane bioreactor.
Toilet wastewater is treated and reused on site at Europe's highest membrane bioreactor (MBR), located in a cable car mountain station in the ski resort of Zermatt. Negative impacts on the sensitive mountain environment are minimised by reusing close to 100% of the treated wastewater for toilet flushing. Besides 100% nitrogen removal, 80% of phosphorus was also eliminated. This paper presents operational results, optimisations of sludge management, decoloration and long-term maintenance of biomass in the very low-loaded summer season. From a global view the experiences and results of the project are of great importance, proposing a solution to a problem existing 100-fold in the Alps as well as in arid regions all over the world: reducing water consumption for sanitation by reuse.
Boehler
M
M
Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, Duebendorf, Switzerland. marc.boehler@eawag.ch
Joss
A
A
Buetzer
S
S
Holzapfel
M
M
Mooser
H
H
Siegrist
H
H
D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013557:Switzerland; D014038:Toilet Facilities / Q000592:standards; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical