Water treatment sludge management in the context of changing environmental legislation in Russia

Abstract

To consider changes in the regulation of sludge handling in natural and waste water treatment, national projects that contribute to the greening of the sludge handling process, and to present an overview of the market of domestic equipment for sludge treatment and disposal. The changes in regulatory, technical and legal documentation were analysed in the environmental protection sphere and in the field of sludge handling at centralised water treatment plants. Using open sources of information, the market of Russian equipment for sludge dewatering, drying and incineration was reviewed. Taking into account the changes in legislation in the field of waste management, clarifications of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, natural and sewage sludge can be positioned not only as a waste, but also as a secondary resource, secondary raw material or by-product. The adopted amendments do not reduce the responsibility of water supply and sewerage organisations in matters of sludge handling; they are aimed at increasing the interest of industrialists in the involvement of sludge in industrial turnover and simplification of sludge disposal processes. The amendments to the regulatory and legal documentation are likely to contribute to the elimination of such low-ecological objects of natural and sewage sludge disposal as deposition sites. It seems necessary to take incentives for organisations willing to use sludge in their production.