Specific types of wastewater pollution in Ostrava and possibilities of decontamination through wastewater treatment plants

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to the problem of the occurrence of some groups of micropollutants in wastewater, namely pharmaceutically active compounds (PhAC) and drugs in the context of wastewater treatment in Ostrava (290,000 inhabitants). Wastewater treatment is an essential service that ensures the reduction of pollutants in wastewater, while also protecting human health and the environment. In Europe, most wastewater enters the sewerage system and is discharged to a wastewater treatment plant, from where it is further discharged into rivers, lakes or coastal areas. Recently, people have been focusing more on pollutants in wastewater that are not targeted by WWTP, i.e., so-called micropollutants, which are, for example, pharmaceutically active compounds, drugs, or their metabolites. The risk of these groups of micropollutants in water is, for example, the possibility of exposure to aquatic organisms or bioaccumulation in food chains. The discharge of treated wastewater from the WWTP is the central route for PhAC to enter surface waters, as current technologies for decontamination are not yet designed. On the other hand, WWTPs act as primary barriers against the spread of micropollutants. One of the basic steps in designing a decontamination technology is to know the composition of the local wastewater.