POIŚ 2014-2020

“Circular economy in the wastewater treatment plant along with the expansion of the water supply and sewage network in the Słupsk agglomeration”

Following the signing of Amendment No. 6 to the Project Grant Agreement for “Circular economy in the wastewater treatment plant along with the expansion of the water supply and sewage network” regarding, among others, an increase in the material scope of the project and its value, as of October 24, 2022, the following information regarding the OPEI (Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme) project is amended:

Total project implementation cost: PLN 45,929,746.99
Value of eligible expenditures: PLN 27,725,574.17
Co-financing amount from the Cohesion Fund: PLN 23,566,738.04

Following the signing of Amendment No. 4 to the Project Grant Agreement for “Circular economy in the wastewater treatment plant along with the expansion of the water supply and sewage network”, as of June 10, 2021, the following values of the OPEI project are amended:

Total project implementation cost: PLN 36,967,309.99
Value of eligible expenditures: PLN 22,249,823.95
Project co-financing amount: PLN 18,912,350.35

The project is implemented by “Wodociągi Słupsk” Sp. z o.o. as the Beneficiary and by the Entity authorized to incur expenditures – the Słupsk Municipality, based on the signed agreement.

Date of signing the grant agreement: December 14, 2017
Original total cost of the project: PLN 34,581,713.73 gross
Original value of eligible expenditures: PLN 20,841,989.18 net
Original co-financing amount from the Cohesion Fund: PLN 17,715,690.80

Project Objectives

The general objective of the project regarding the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is to modernize the existing sludge management system by implementing technological solutions that enable synergetic actions compliant with the principles of the bio-economy, which is based on the “circular economy.” The technological solutions applied for the project implementation allow for the development of best models – Best Available Techniques (BAT) compliant with the reference BAT documents designated by the European Commission.

Furthermore, the investment aims to improve the functioning and operation of facilities and equipment related to the discharge of sewage sludge from the wastewater section of the treatment plant and its final management in the composting plant, screenings processing, as well as to reduce the odor impact of the wastewater section, i.e., primary settling tanks.

The general objective of the project is to:

• improve the efficiency of screenings management,
• improve the efficiency of sewage sludge management,
• improve logistics within the existing sewage sludge composting plant,
• improve the efficiency of sludge discharge from primary and secondary settling tanks,
• reduce the odor impact of the wastewater treatment plant facilities on the environment,
• improve energy efficiency and the effectiveness of nitrogen removal in the liquor pre-treatment plant.

In addition, the project involves the construction and reconstruction of water supply and sewage network systems in the agglomeration, as well as the purchase of necessary special equipment for the operation of water supply and sewage installations and infrastructure.

The achievement of individual core objectives will result in synergetic effects, the impact of which may extend to a larger scale, rather than just meeting the needs of eliminating installation deficiencies:

• environmental objective: ensuring a good state of the environment through the proper processing of sewage sludge and other waste generated both at the Słupsk treatment plant and outside it, increasing the utilization of the energy potential of sludge and biodegradable waste, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions;
• health objective: reducing the risk of pathogenic contamination when using sludge and/or compost in agriculture through the application of advanced stabilization and hygienization processes; additionally, reducing the immission of the entire treatment plant facility;
• technical and organizational objective: organizing sludge management at the wastewater treatment plant, improving management efficiency;
• formal and legal objective: meeting the requirements of Polish law and European Union legislation, in line with the priorities in water, wastewater, and waste management (e.g., waste hierarchy, RES, etc.);
• economic objective: influencing the development of the local economy, increasing the attractiveness of the area for investors, promoting the tourist values of the region;
• social objective: improving the standard of living of the residents, gaining acceptance for regional activities.

Project Scope:
The identification of water and wastewater management problems in the area covered by the planned project made it possible to determine the scope of necessary measures to eliminate current irregularities. The investment is aimed at improving the identified deficiencies in water and wastewater management in the agglomeration and mainly boils down to carrying out investments consisting, among others, of:

• Expansion of the wastewater treatment plant,
• Construction and reconstruction of the sanitary sewage network,
• Construction and reconstruction of water supply networks.

a) As part of the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant, the following are planned, among others:

• Construction of a dry percolation fermentation installation.
• Construction of storage yards for compost warehouses, including the optimization of the technological process of sewage sludge composting in terms of:
  • construction of compost maturation warehouse No. 1 with an area of approx. 870 m²
  • construction of compost maturation warehouse No. 2 with an area of approx. 450 m²
  • construction of a temporary storage warehouse for biodegradable substrates with an area of approx. 130 m²
  • construction of a drainage plot for emergency discharge of waste and hydrated waste with an area of approx. 130 m²
  • construction and reconstruction of access and maneuvering roads for the needs of warehouses and optimization of traffic at the composting plant – approx. 1,000 m²
  • construction of a car wheel and chassis wash facility along with a yard for washing equipment operating the composting plant with an area of approx. 110 m²
• Modernization of the sludge dewatering unit by replacing the dewatering centrifuge.
• Replacement of scrapers for primary and secondary settling tanks – 4 sets.
• Installation of a deodorization system for the outer effluent rings of primary settling tanks.
• Change in the technology of nitrogen removal from liquors.
• The purchase and delivery of a backhoe loader complements the technical equipment.

The scope of expansion includes the execution of inter-facility networks, paving, access paths, and land shaping necessary for the implementation of the indicated tasks, as well as the commissioning of new and reconstructed facilities.

b) As part of the construction and reconstruction of the sanitary sewage network, the following are planned, among others:

• construction of a sewage network to connect new consumers with a total length of approximately 2.27 km in the area of Portowa, Spacerowa, Kaszubska, Łotewska, and Legionów Polskich Streets in Słupsk,
• reconstruction of the existing sewage discharge system through:
  • construction of connection chambers and a pressure sewage system in Kobylnica,
  • construction of a sewage network deodorization station at 3-go Maja Avenue in Słupsk,
  • construction of a gravity sewage system at 3-go Maja Avenue in Słupsk,
  • replacement of the stoneware gravity sanitary sewage channel in the village of Kusowo,
  • replacement and refurbishment of sewage pumping stations in the villages of Wielichowo, Strzelinko, Gać, Krępa Słupska, Gałęzinowo, Swołowo, and Głobino,
  • execution of a sanitary sewage network in the village of Strzelino.

The total length of the reconstructed sewage network is approx. 2.0 km.
These activities will be complemented by the purchase and delivery of two special vehicles for cleaning the sewage network.

c) As part of the construction and reconstruction of the water supply network, the following are planned, among others:

• construction of new networks in the area of Banacha and Niemena Streets in Słupsk and in Kaszubska Street in Słupsk along the road belt of Miejska Street in Siemianice. Furthermore, it is necessary to reconstruct the network (by constructing new water mains) in the area of Spacerowa, Dembińskiego, Chłopickiego, Braci Gierymskich, Jagiełły and Łukasiewicza, Poznańska, Szczecińska, Koszalińska, Olchowa and Cisowa, Parkowa, Jodłowa and Jałowcowa, Piłsudskiego and Zygmunta Augusta, Poprzeczna, Lawendowa, and Klonowa Streets in Słupsk. In the Słupsk Municipality, it is necessary to reconstruct the water supply system feeding the village of Strzelino, as well as to construct a water supply network from the village of Wrzeście to the village of Wiklino and from the village of Rogawica to the village of Kukowo.

The total length of the constructed and modernized network is approximately 12.7 km. These activities will be complemented by the purchase of tablets compatible with the GIS system owned by the Company for the operation and maintenance of the water supply network.

Benefits of Implementation:

The socio-economic benefits resulting from the project implementation have been identified below:

• the project will contribute to the comprehensive protection of water intakes for the residents of the Słupsk Agglomeration;
• reduction of environmental losses and losses of water supplied to consumers;
• increasing the tourist and investment attractiveness of the region;
• creating favorable conditions for the development of the construction sector;
• benefits resulting from the reduction of the amount of pollutants entering the environment due to outdated infrastructure, failure rates, and insufficient capacity.

The requested project will generate a number of benefits that would be difficult to present in financial terms:

• health benefits for the residents of the Agglomeration,
• creation of a friendly environment,
• improvement of landscape attractiveness,
• benefits caused by the improvement of the state of the natural environment, in particular the quality of groundwater, surface water, and soil,
• improvement of the living conditions of the residents,
• reduction of developmental disparities between regions.

The implementation of the project will result in a significant improvement in the quality of the Agglomeration’s technical infrastructure. The tasks performed as part of the project have a positive impact on increasing the economic and tourist attractiveness of the municipality and the entire region. The execution of the planned measures will improve the living conditions of the residents by reducing the nuisances associated with sewage discharge, and will foster the economic and social development of the municipality while respecting environmental protection principles. The investment in question will meet social needs and eliminate ecological hazards. An important spatial aspect is the impact of the investment implementation on improving the landscape attractiveness of the rivers existing in this area.

The investment will have a positive impact on the development of the treatment plant towards increasing its energy self-sufficiency, thereby lowering the operational costs incurred by the plant. The construction of a dry fermentation installation and the improvement of the sludge management system take into account the positive aspects of utilizing the energy (biogas) potential of screenings, as well as their stabilization, and will allow for the achievement of the designated environmental objectives in accordance with applicable legal regulations, tailored to the drafted and planned amendments to the law. The construction of the planned installation will contribute to promoting the concept of a circular economy, meaning that resources and raw materials generated during the operation of the municipal wastewater treatment plant will not be “wasted,” but will instead be better utilized. The promoted circular economy is a model that will allow for the full utilization of the fertilizer potential of sludge as well as the energy potential of screenings and sludge resulting from municipal wastewater treatment.

The planned biogas installations for screenings and sludge generated from municipal wastewater treatment will ultimately be characterized primarily by:

• high efficiency of the fermentation process, defined as the volume of biogas produced,
• the quality of the generated digestate, which determines the possibility of its further management,
• environmental benefits, sludge and screenings management, and full utilization of the potential of organic fractions,
• financial benefits resulting from the possibility of obtaining a larger volume of substrates with good parameters for composting, and increasing biogas production, which consequently leads to the production of electricity used exclusively for the treatment plant’s internal consumption.

Implementation period: July 2014 – December 2023

Loan