INTEGRATED URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT IN BERLIN WITH ...

INTEGRATED URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT IN
BERLIN WITH FOCUS ON NATURAL WATER
TREATMENT IN A PARTIALLY CLOSED WATER
CYCLE
Hella Schwarzmüller, Gesche Grützmacher, Regina Gnirss
28.01.2011
for the DWRP11
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The Berlin Centre of Competence for Water
• Created by Veolia in 1999 during the partial privatisation
of Berliner Wasserbetriebe to promote science, research
and development in the field of water as well as education
• since December 2001 non-profit network societey
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Main fields of research
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• Introduction
– The Berlin situation
Outline
• Why a „semi-closed water cycle“?
– Waste water treatment
– Surface water treatment
– Drinking water abstraction
• Special focus: RBF/ MAR
– Quantitative & qualitative aspects
• Future challenges
– Expected changes
– Water treatment options
– Management options
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• Introduction
– The Berlin situation
Outline
• Why a „semi-closed water cycle“?
– Waste water treatment
– Surface water treatment
– Drinking water abstraction
• Special focus: RBF/ MAR
– Quantitative & qualitative aspects
• Future challenges
– Expected changes
– Water treatment options
– Management options
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Berlin
Havel
Wannsee
Havel
The Berlin Situation
29...35 m asl
Spree
Teltow -
Plateau
35...50 m asl
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Barnim -
Plateau
35...65 m asl
~ 40 km
Spree
~ 35 km
Dahme
Müggelsee

• Water supply:
– 202 mio. m³/ year
– 7.857 km distribution networks
– 9 water works
– 953 wells
Facts and figures
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• Sewer systems:
– 224 mio. m³/ year
– 9.400 km sewers
– 1.127 km pressure pipelines
– 4 WWTP
– 147 pump stations

Precipitation:
- 570 mm/a (15 m³/s)
Average discharge:
- Spree: 25 m³/s
- Havel: 15 m³/s
Natural groundwater recharge:
- 4.8 l/s*km² (4 m³/s)
Drinking water demand:
- 202 mio m³/a (6 m³/s)
Havel
Havel
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Dahme
Brunnengalerien
Spree

• Introduction
– The Berlin situation
Outline
• Why a „semi-closed water cycle“?
– Waste water treatment
– Surface water treatment
– Drinking water abstraction
• Special focus: RBF/ MAR
– Quantitative & qualitative aspects
• Future challenges
– Expected changes
– Water treatment options
– Management options
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Water works
Berlin’s Water Cycle
U S E
Surface water
resource
Groundwater
resource
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Waste water
treatment plant

Waste water treatment
• Conventional activated sludge treatment with N/P removal
and secondary clarification
– N removal: pre-denitrification
– P removal: enhanced biological P-removal or chemical precipitation
• Hydraulic retention times
– biological stage: 15 h
– sludge retention time: 18 d
• Average effluent concentrations
– TSS: 6 mg/L
– TN inorg: 13 mg N/L
– total-P: 0.5 mg P/L
– DOC: 10 – 15 mg/L
– BOD: < 3 mg/L
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• Non-polar trace organics
– Sorbed onto activated sludge
• Volatile trace organics
– Stripped during aeration
• Other
– Not being removed during
conventional waste water
treatment
– Bio-degradation in surface
waters
– > Subsurface passage?
– > Dilution effects by mixing?
Trace organics removal
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Location AAA
(μg/L)
Estrone
(ng/L)
Carbamazepine
(μg/L)
Inflow STPs 10-15 60-150 2-5
Effluent STPs 3-9 2-20 2-5
Surface water ( ) 0.4-1.6 0.5-2 0.2-0.9
Bank filtrate (< 1 month travel time) 0.1-0.2

Surface Water quality aspects
• Surface water treatment plants
Lake Tegel:
– Phosphorous removal (-99%)
– Precipitation/ Coagulation/
Flocculation
– Sedimentation
– Post precipitation
– Filtration
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Oberhavel
Pumpwerk
Oberhavel
Tegeler See
Fläche: 4 km²
Durchschnittliche Tiefe: 6,6 m
Maximale Tiefe: 15 m
Volumen: 24,6 Mio. m³
theoretische Aufenthaltszeit: 3 bis 4 Monate bei 3 m³/s
Überleitung zur OWA
und Rückleitung von
gereinigtem Wasser
Tegeler F ließ
Blankenfelder
Graben
OWA - Tegel
Inbetriebnahme im August 1985
Wasserwerk Tegel
Ableiter vom
Klärwerk
Nordgraben
ehemalige Rieselfelder
Außerbetriebnahme 1986
Klärwerk Schönerlinde
Inbetriebnahme 1986
Verteilbauwerk
Arkenberge
Panke
Buchholzer Graben
Panke
Verteilbauwerk
Blankenburg

Grundwassergewinnung
Drinking water abstraction
• Abstraction by
– ~ 700 vertical filter wells
– 2 radial collector wells
• All situated along lakes / rivers
– Ideal situation for RBF
– Subsurface passage as
main treatment step
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Abb.: BWB

well
aeration
Drinking water production
Principle of post-treatment in all Berlin waterworks
filtration
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storage
Fe & Mn removal
no chlorination,
no addition of chemicals
pumping

• Introduction
– The Berlin situation
Outline
• Why a „semi-closed water cycle“?
– Waste water treatment
– Surface water treatment
– Drinking water abstraction
• Special focus: RBF/ MAR
– Quantitative & qualitative aspects
• Future challenges
– Expected changes
– Water treatment options
– Management options
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Grundwassergewinnung
Groundwater recharge
60 % 30 % 10 %
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Berlin
• Qualitative issues
– Insufficient surface water quality in the 19 th century (without technical
treatment)
� First „groundwater“ production plant at Lake Tegel
• Quantitative issues
– Insufficient natural groundwater recharge
� Wells were drilled close to surface waters to supplement naturally
recharged water with bank filtrate
• Political issues
Why was MAR implemented?
– During the cold war West Berlin needed to maintain an independent
drinking water production
� Installation of infiltration ponds in Tegel and Spandau.
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Bank filtration & managed aquifer recharge
• Bank filtration
– Supplementing groundwater resources by surface water infiltration
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• Elimination processes:
filtration
sorption
degradation
precipitation
Water Quality Aspects
mixing
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ambient groundwater

Bank filtration & Managed aquifer recharge
• Aquifer recharge
– Replenish Groundwater by surface water via infiltration ponds
surface water
Q Q
pond
aquifer
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unsaturated zone
abstraction
Greskowiak et al. (2007)

Artificial recharge at the Tegel water works
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Microsieve
Infiltration pond

Artificial recharge at the Spandau water works
„Kuhlake“ Pond operation
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n = 170 sites
Comparing Berlin to other BF/ AR sites
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n = 170 sites
Comparing Berlin to other BF/ AR sites
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Development of Hydrogeological Methods
Transsect at Lake Wannsee
Tracer
lake observation wells
- sewage indicators
(e.g. Gd-DTPA, chloride, EDTA)
- substances with clear seasonality
(e.g. stable isotopes, temperature)
� Travel times:
< 3 months to > 10 years
� Bank filtration share: 30 % to 60 %
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production well
Picture TUB
~ 40 m

Basis for Process Understanding: Hydrochemistry
Transsect at Lake Wannsee
aerobic
anaerobic
� bank filtrate passes through different redox zones
� different degradation mechanisms can apply
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Picture TUB

Challenges and research topics
• Hydraulics / Hydrochemistry
– Different permeability of the
banks
– Retarded oxygen depletion due
to low temperatures
– Formation of a clogging layer
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• Introduction
– The Berlin situation
Outline
• Why a „semi-closed water cycle“?
– Waste water treatment
– Surface water treatment
– Drinking water abstraction
• Special focus: RBF/ MAR
– Quantitative & qualitative aspects
• Future challenges
– Expected changes
– Water treatment options
– Management options
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• Climate change
Expected changes
– Increase in waste water share due to less summer precipitation
– Extreme weather events leading to combined sewer overflows
– Rising temperatures shifting redox zonation
• Legislation:
– Quality standards for trace organic substances requiring higher
efforts for waste water treatment
• Impact of upstream mining activities
– Flooding of abandoned open-pit mines
– Decreased discharge of the Spree river
– Increased sulfate loads
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• Drinking water abstraction:
Future challenges
– Does subsurface passage remove relevant waste-water
contaminants, toxins produced by algaea blooms, pathogens?
– Which are the key parameters that define the Berlin BF & AR
system?
– Can future changes (temperature, recharge etc.) impact drinking
water quality?
Research projects of
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Water treatment options
• Advanced waste water or drinking water treatment:
– Ozonation in combination with subsurface passage
� oxidation of persistent trace organics (e.g. carbamazipine,
sulfamethoxazole)
� possible removal of by-products by subsurface passage
– PAC dosing:
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Miehe (2010)

Combination of different treatment methods
e.g. with
� Ozonation
� Aeration & rapid filtration (Fe, Mn)
� Activated carbon (trace substances)
� Disinfection (pathogens)
Depending on surface water quality and
hydrogeological framework
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Management options
• Identification of sources & treatment at the source:
– e.g. treating x-ray contrast media in hospitals
• Management of loads:
– quality controlled water
abstraction
• Life Cycle Assessment:
– Comparison of different
options with respect
to their carbon footprint
KW
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WW
WW
WW
WW
WW
OWA
WW
KW
KW
KW
KW
WW
WW
WW
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Bezirke
KW
WW
Mensch
KW
Broll (2005)

Thank you for your attention
• If you want to learn more…
– www.kompetenz-wasser.de
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