Abstract
Estimation of domestic waste emissions to waters is needed for pollution assessment and modelling. We assessed quantity and location of domestic waste emissions to European waters for the 2010s. Specifically, we considered discharges of domestic waste Population Equivalent (PE, the amount of waste that equals to 60 g per day of Biochemical Oxygen Demand), and mean annual loads (t/y) of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and 5-days Biochemical Oxygen Demand. The spatial resolution and extent of the analysis corresponded to the CCM2 River and Catchment Database for Europe, for catchments of mean area of 6.4 km2. The assessment is based on available European databases that allowed pinpointing waste emissions to a high spatial and conceptual resolution. Content gaps, particularly concerning domestic waste from isolated dwellings, were filled through alternative sources of information, exploiting population density and national statistics data. The dataset is of interest for assessing waste emissions to and fate through European fresh and marine waters also beyond the three pollutants evaluated in this study.
Highlights
Background & SummaryEstimation of domestic waste emissions to the European fresh and marine waters is needed for assessing current physico-chemical status of water bodies and providing inputs for pollutant transport and fate models
Reporting of waste emissions has been centralized through the European Environment Agency (EEA)
These data represent a detailed source of information of current emissions at high spatial resolution, their spatial extent does not cover the entire European continent and some waste source gaps remain
Summary
Estimation of domestic waste emissions to the European fresh and marine waters is needed for assessing current physico-chemical status of water bodies and providing inputs for pollutant transport and fate models. Small isolated houses (Scattered Dwellings, SD) are not connected to sewerage system but are generally equipped with septic tanks that remove part of the pollution load before waste infiltrates underground. In this assessment discharges from WWTPs (T1, T2, T3), and sewer pipes (T0) are considered direct emissions to surface water (point sources). A method was developed to merge domestic waste data reported in databases (REP approach) with alternative sources of information based on population density and national statistics on sewerage connection and treatment level rates (POP approach), to fill in content and regional gaps (Fig. 1). The dataset is of interest to assess and model waste pollution in waters at the continental scale
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