The Condition of the Sanitary Infrastructure in the Bialski District in Poland and the Need for its Development

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to present the current state and the need for development of the sanitary infrastructure in the communes of the Bialski District located in the Lublin Voivodeship. The Bialski District encompasses 2 urban communes: Miedzyrzec Podlaski and Terespol and 17 rural communes: Biała Podlaska, Drelów, Janów Podlaski, Kodeń, Konstantynów, Leśna Podlaska, Łomazy, Międzyrzec Podlaski, Piszcząc, Rokitno, Rossosz, Sławatycze, Sosnówka, Terespol, Tuczna, Wisznice and Zalesie. The present paper uses the data from the surveys conducted in these communes in 2016. On average, 79.2% of the population used the water supply system in the surveyed communes, while 39.4% of the inhabitants had the possibility of discharging wastewater to the sewerage system. In the area of the communes, there were 20 collective, mechanical and biological wastewater treatment plants with a capacity exceeding 5 m3/d. The households which were not connected to the wastewater network, discharged wastewater mainly to non-return tanks. In the surveyed communes, there were 4437 household wastewater treatment plants. Most of them (above 80%) were the systems with infiltration drainage, which do not ensure high efficiency of pollutants removal and may even contribute to the degradation of the groundwater quality. In order to solve the existing problems of wastewater and water management occurring in the communes where the Bialski District is located, it is necessary to further develop collective wastewater systems and equip the areas characterized by dispersed housing with highly efficient household treatment plants, e.g. constructed wetlands.

Keywords

• household wastewater treatment plants
• septic tanks
• water supply network
• sewerage systems
• district
• collective wastewater treatment plants