Lambertsmühle

Simulation Studies · New Sanitation Strategies · Integrated Technology for Residential Areas

Pilot project
Lambertsmühle zu Burscheid

Pictures of the project

Lambertsmühle zu Burscheid

Description of the sustainable sanitation concept
2-year Investigation program

Lambertsmühle, which is an old watermill, has been put under preservation and will be reconstructed to a museum. Due to the restoration of the building the wastewater treatment had to be reconstructed as well. Due to the old concept all the wastewater has been collected in a collecting tank. The new wastewater-concept is an important step towards sustainable sanitation in rural areas.

The development of the sanitation concept and the planning from preliminary design to the invitation of tenders has been carried out by OtterWasser GmbH. The construction of the sanitary facilities has been carried out by the Wupperverband and the society "Verein zur Förderung der Lambertsmühle zu Burscheid e.V.".

Description of the sustainable sanitation concept

The described wastewater concept is suitable for detached houses and rural areas. For these applications it can be a low-cost and low-maintenance system.

No-mix or separating toilets enable the separate collection and transportation of urine and faeces as Yellowwater and Brownwater. Yellowwater will be stored in a storage tank until using in agriculture.

Brownwater is diverted separately to the compost separator. There a precomposting process is taking place. After one year without application the compost will be taken out and finally composted together with organic garbage. The mature compost can be used as a humus fertilizer with long-term effects.

Greywater will be pretreated in a sedimentation tank and then pumped to the reed-bed filter. The treated water can be used in the garden for irrigation or diverted to a receiving water.

The different parts of the integrated concept are shown in figure 1. An overview of the sanitation concept regarding to the water and the nutrient cycle is shown in the flow scheme in figure 2. Table 1 shows parts due to their function within the concept.

Scheme of
integrated wastewater concept for
rural areas
Figure 1: Scheme of integrated wastewater concept for rural areas

Part of the sanitation system	Function
Waterless urinals	Gathering of the undiluted urine (optional)
No-mix (separating) toilets	Gathering of the low diluted urine, Gathering of the low diluted faeces
Yellowwater storage tank	Gathering and storage of the Yellowwater
Rotting chamber/compost separator	Filtration and composting of the brownwater thick-matter
Garden composter	Follow-up composting of the precomposted brownwater thick-matter together with organic kitchen garbage and grass cuttings
Grit chamber	Pre-treatment of greywater
Reed-bed filter	Treatment of the greywater and the filtrate of the rotting chamber/compost separator

Table 1: Parts of the sanitation concept.

Figure 2: Flow scheme of the water and nutrient cycle

Start

2-year Investigation program

Since 2001 the research project supported by the Ministerium für Umwelt und Naturschutz, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen is running for 2 years. The research project will demonstrate the technically, economically, organizationally and socially feasibility of separation wastewater systems. In May 2003 a final conference and presentation about the results toke place.

Methods

Different partners are involved with various task, which are described in the listing, in the investigation program:

Efficiency of source separation and of each stage on the basic of concentrations and mass balances
Increasing of the knowledge of such systems and ideas for further developments
Experience with storage, treatment and utilization of the nutrients from the urine
Investigations concerning operation of the various compounds (toilets, treatment, utilization)
Investigations of the nutrient utilization in the agriculture by lab scale experiments and on-site on small scale fields nearby
Investigations of hygienic issues
Measurement of persistent organic pollutants (pharmaceuticals, hormones etc.) in the different flows and the influence of storage and treatment especially of the urine on these pollutants
Recommendations for optimization of source separation systems

The tasks have been fulfilled in various measuring campaigns and on regular investigations during normal operation time.

Results

The results of two years of operation of the urine separation system can be named as:

Not every separation toilet can be recommended, esp. for children
The collected urine has a very high concentration of nutrients
Nitrogen loss by urine collection and storage is neglectible in neutral conditions as well as in acid conditions
Urine storage in acid conditions destroys pathogens and effects an hygienic harmless fertilizer
Persistent organic pollutants are mainly concentrated on the urine. Specific components can be degraded by storage in acid conditions
The solid removal in the compost separator is very effective. The unit is responsible for collection, separation and dewatering processes; the composting effect can be neglected
Due to the source separation the effluent values of the constructed wetland are very low concerning the nitrogen concentration
The first results of the agriculture investigations are demonstrating a good efficiency of the fertilizer on special plants. Further investigations are under progress

The increasing focus on persistent organic pollutants, which are distributed by human wastewater in the surface waters, is supporting the installation of the source separation. With separation of the urine the wide spreading of these components in the natural environment can be avoided. Additionally the emission of nutrients in the receiving waters can be reduced and artificial fertilizer can be replaced.

Conclusion

The results of this project are very successful and are showing a lot of benefits of the source separation concept. The efficiency of the treatment can be increased by the source separation. Urine can act as a very good fertilizer and can be hygienically harmless by specific storage conditions. Open questions due to persistent organic pollutants has to investigated in further ongoing research programs.

For more information about the investigation program see here (only in German).

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