3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
Sanitation and Wastewater Treatment
As mentioned in the TIR Strategy Study Food chapter, Carole Dieschbourg, the Minister of the
Environment, reported in 2015 that more than 70% of Luxembourg’s surface water may not
comply with the EU's 2015 targets for chemical and biological quality (EU Water Framework
Directive). Roughly one-tenth of the below ground monitoring points indicated nitrates
exceeded concentration limits. In shifting from the conventional linear model to a circularity
model, Luxembourg’s scores of towns and communities with small population sizes could
pursue ecologically sustainable, modular, distributed wastewater treatment systems. The
innovations in this field are fast evolving, with the following chart indicative of the range of
approaches.
Wastewater treatment options
Source: Wendland and Albold (2010) 308
308 Wendland, Claudia and Andrea Albold (2010) Sustainable and cost-effective wastewater systems for rural and
peri-urban communities up to 10,000 population equivalents, Guidance paper, Women in Europe for a Common
Future, http://www.wecf.eu/.
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