Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive Research Articles

Nutrients removal in overloaded WWTP by intermittently aerated IFAS: Effects of biofilm carrier and intermittent aeration cycle

Updating of the current Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) will demand stricter regulations for nutrients removal. In this frame, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of small-to-medium potential will face new challenges for achieving process intensification. Integrating intermittent aeration (IA) and integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) technologies could be a promising solution to meet such requirements. This study analyzed how IA cycles affected nutrients removal in IFAS reactors with different biofilm carriers (e.g., plastic and sponge media). The plants responses to different carbon/nitrogen/phosphorous (C/N/P) ratios were evaluated while operating under low sludge retention time (SRT) to simulate overloaded conditions.A short IA cycle (1 h) with an aeration/not aeration ratio of 2:1 enabled high organic carbon and nitrification performances when operating at high C/N/P (11.8/1/1), whereas low denitrification and phosphorous removal yields were obtained because of the short not-aerated phase. Decreasing C/N ratio (8.8/1/1) without changing the IA cycle resulted in nitrification worsening because of the reduced metabolic kinetics of biofilm. Under such load conditions, a higher IA cycle (2 h) was necessary to improve process performance. A longer not-aerated phase was also positive for denitrification and phosphorous removal because of the establishment of anoxic and anaerobic environments within the bulk and inner biofilm layers. Besides, results suggested that sponge carriers offered advantages over plastic ones, enabling a higher biofilm retention capacity, better nutrient removal, as well as robustness and resilience to operating condition changes. This would result in simpler management systems for implementing the IA process, thus reducing process complexity and costs.

Can Lagoons Serve as a Quaternary Treatment for Micropollutants in Wastewater Treatment Plants? Recent Implications for Compliance with the New Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive

This study explores the potential of storage lagoons as a quaternary treatment step in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), focusing on compliance with the recent European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), which mandates an 80% reduction in specific micropollutants. While conventional treatments effectively remove residual nutrients and solids, the potential of storage lagoons as an additional treatment is not fully defined. This research aims to address this gap by assessing the efficacy of storage lagoons in refining the effluent quality at the Cabezo Beaza WWTP, considering recent UWWTD requirements. We conduct a comprehensive assessment of the water quality parameters and micropollutants, before and after the storage lagoon stage, at the Cabezo Beaza WWTP. The results indicate that this strategy of prolonged storage in lagoons manages to meet the reduction objectives established by the Directive, reaching elimination percentages greater than 80% for the majority of the analyzed micropollutants. Our findings suggest that lagoons significantly improve water quality and reduce contaminants beyond conventional treatments, offering environmental and economic benefits. This paper discusses the mechanisms behind these improvements, such as natural sedimentation, microbial activity, and potential phytoremediation. This study contributes to the research on advanced wastewater treatment and supports the integration of storage lagoons as a viable quaternary treatment solution that meets the UWWTD standards.

Treatment of greywater with nanofiltration for nutrient removal – 2-year experience from Helsingborg

Abstract Source-separated sanitation and greywater treatment have become an increasingly attractive alternative to traditional wastewater management systems in recent years due to their potential to combat water scarcity, ease resource recovery, and meet tightening effluent demands. In Helsingborg, Sweden, source-separated wastewater from the new city district of Oceanhamnen is being collected and treated in a new treatment plant (RecoLab) to test, among other issues, how efficient greywater treatment can be in achieving low discharge limits for pollutants. The greywater treatment consists of activated sludge treatment, drum filter micro-sieving, and nanofiltration. In the first two years of operation, the robustness of the treatment system during periods with extreme conditions, e.g., very low and very high organic matter concentrations, was tested. The combination of biological treatment and nanofiltration has achieved stable effluent concentrations below 10 mg/L chemical oxygen demand, 2 mg/L total nitrogen, and 0.2 mg/L total phosphorus as average values for 22 months of operation with an average flow of 43 m3/day. The treatment system for greywater treatment thus shows the possibility to achieve low discharge limits and meet the new proposed effluent demands of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.

A Critical Review on Methodologies for the Energy Benchmarking of Wastewater Treatment Plants

The main priority at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is the attainment of a high quality of treated effluent ensuring the highly effective removal of pollutants and protecting the environment and public health. However, WWTPs are made of energy-intensive processes and consequently, they are considered major energy consumers in the public sector. The need to move towards energy neutrality in the wastewater sector was recently pointed out by the proposal of a recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. To date, a comprehensive methodology for energy audits at WWTPs is still missing. The present review aims at discussing the state of the art on energy consumption at WWTPs and at surveying the energy benchmarking methodologies currently available highlighting the main advantages and limitations. It was pointed out that aeration represents the highest energy-intensive compartment in WWTPs (40–75% of total energy). The wide overview provided by key performance indicators (KPIs) might be overcome by applying benchmarking methodologies based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). The latest is properly designed for WWTPs and able to manage multiple inputs and outputs. However, the obtained findings are often limited and fragmented, making the standardization of the methodology difficult. Consequently, future investigations are advised on the development of standard procedures related to data acquisition and collection and on the implementation of online and real-time monitoring. Considering the lack of standardized methodology for the energy benchmarking of WWTPs, the present article will provide essential information to guide future research, helping WWTP utilities to reach the energy audit goals in the accomplishment of incoming EU directives.

Determination of the Occurrence of Negative Impacts during Lowering of Sinking Wells Using the Fuzzy TOPSIS Method

Sinking wells belong to underground facilities. Large-diameter sinking wells are often constructed as retention basins and reservoirs for wastewater treatment plants, which is determined by the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. The directive obliges Member States to implement the principles of sustainable development, promoting sustainable sewage collection and treatment systems. When designing and constructing facilities using sinking well technology, contact between the structure and the ground must be considered. During the lowering of a sinking well into the ground medium, a number of negative impacts may occur and affect the sinking process, including excessive ground settlement outside the well, damage or destruction of adjacent objects, tilt of the well casing from the vertical, and uncontrolled sinking of the well casing. The aim of this paper is to determine the occurrence of negative impacts during the lowering of sinking wells. Determining the incidence of negative impacts could help to avoid pre-failure and emergency situations relating to sinking wells. A fuzzy TOPSIS method was used to determine the above.

European-wide spatial analysis of sewage treatment plants and the possible benefits to nature of advanced treatment to reduce pharmaceutical emissions.

Pharmaceuticals are known to widely occur in the environment and to affect the health of ecosystems. Sewage treatment plants (STPs) are main emission pathways for pharmaceuticals, which are often not sufficiently removed during wastewater treatment. In Europe, STP treatment requirements are specified under the Urban WasteWater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The introduction of advanced treatment techniques, such as ozonation and activated carbon, under the UWWTD is expected to be an important option to reduce pharmaceutical emissions. In this study, we present a European-wide analysis of STPs reported under the UWWTD, their current treatment level and potential to remove a set of 58 prioritised pharmaceuticals. Three different scenarios were analysed to show 1) UWWTD present effectiveness, 2) the effectiveness at full UWWTD compliance, and 3) the effectiveness when advanced treatment is implemented at STPs with a treatment capacity of >100.000 person equivalents. Based on a literature study, the potential of individual STPs to reduce pharmaceutical emissions ranged from an average of 9% for STPs with primary treatment to 84% for STPs applying advanced treatment. Results of our calculations show that European-wide emission of pharmaceuticals can be reduced with 68% when large STPs are updated with advanced treatment, but spatial differences exist. We argue that adequate attention should also be paid with regards to preventing environmental impacts of STPs with a capacity <100.000 p.e. Circa 44% of total STP effluent is emitted near Natura2000 sites (EU nature protection areas). Of all surface waters receiving STP effluent for which the ecological status has been assessed under the Water Framework Directive, 77% have a status of less than good. Relatively often only primary treatment is applied to wastewater emitted into coastal waters. This analysis can be used to further model pharmaceutical concentrations in European surface waters, to identify STPs for which more advanced treatment might be required and to protect EU aquatic biodiversity.

The Fate and Occurrence of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Advanced Wastewater Treatment and Disinfection: A Review

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious problem for modern society, not only associated with clinical environments, but also the natural environment. Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are important nodes for the dissemination of antibiotic resistance to the aquatic environment since they are reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and antibiotic residues. WWTPs are not designed to remove these antibiotic resistance determinants from wastewater, and as a result, they are present in treated effluent, leading to environmental and public health concerns regarding wastewater disposal and reuse. Additional treatments combined with conventional WWTPs can be barriers to the spread of AMR to the environment. In order to understand the effect of wastewater treatment methods on the removal of ARB and ARGs, an extensive bibliographic study was conducted. This review summarizes the efficiency of conventional disinfection methods, tertiary wastewater treatment, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to remove ARB and ARGs from wastewater. In the context of the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC, further studies are needed on the removal potential of AOPs on a full-scale, as they offer great potential for the removal of ARB and ARGs with a low formation of toxic by-products compared to conventional disinfection methods.

Challenges and Perspectives of Nature-Based Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in Rural Areas of Central and Eastern Europe

In Central and Eastern Europe, about one-third of the population lives in small settlements (&lt;2000 PE). Since the current European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) does not clearly regulate the collection and treatment of wastewater from these settlements, countries solve the problem individually. Simple and robust technologies such as nature-based treatment systems could be the solution and are widely applied in many EU countries. In this paper, the status of wastewater collection, treatment, and reuse in rural areas of 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe is presented together with the spread of different nature-based treatment systems. The results show that in the last decade, connection to wastewater treatment plants has increased from 9% to 19% of the total population in small settlements. The use of treated water is rarely applied. Sequencing batch reactors and other types of activated sludge systems predominate in treatment technologies. Nature-based treatment systems (mainly treatment wetlands) are used in all the countries studied. Their implementation is slowly increasing, hampered by lack of acceptance by authorities, lack of good case studies, and misdesigned or misoperated examples from the past. More awareness, formalized training on nature-based treatment systems, and supportive legislation are needed to promote sustainable sanitation solutions in small settlements.

Identification of microplastic pathways within a typical European urban wastewater system

AbstractIn recent years, thermoextraction/desorption‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED‐GC/MS) has been developed as a rapid detection method for the determination of microplastics (MP) mass contents in numerous environmentally relevant matrices and, in particular, for the measurement of polymers in water samples without time‐consuming sample preparation. The TED‐GC/MS method was applied to investigate a typical European municipal wastewater system for possible MP masses. Such investigations are important in view of the recent revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Four different representative sampling sites were selected: greywater (domestic wastewater without toilet), combined sewer, and influent and effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). All samples were collected by fractional filtration. Filtration was carried out over mesh sizes of 500, 100, 50, and in some cases, 5 µm. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were detected in all samples, with the PE fraction dominating in all cases. Styrene‐butadiene rubber which serves as an indication of tire abrasion, was only found in the influent of the WWTP. The highest MP mass contents were found in the combined sewer, so MP can become a source of pollution during heavy rain events when the capacity limits of the effluent are reached, and the polluted effluent is released uncontrolled into the environment. Based on the studies, MP retention from the WWTP could be estimated to be approximately 96%. Few trends in polymer type or mass contents were detected within the different fractions of the samples or when comparing samples to each other.

Promotion of environmental projects to conform with UWWTD and integrated water management

Abstract The region of East Attica in Greece faces stress on its water supply, caused mainly by agricultural activities and tourism in the summer. It is therefore imperative for the region to integrate water reuse in its water resources management plan. To this end, a project was conceived that accommodated stakeholder management practices to ensure public acceptance with the challenge to transform potential project risks to opportunities. In particular, two major wastewater projects in the region were approved for co-financing by the European Union (EU) Cohesion funds and implementation by the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP S.A.) for agglomerations in East Attica (Rafina/Artemida &amp; Marathon agglomerations). Both projects aim to achieving compliance with 91/271/E.E.C, Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and producing treated effluent wastewater that complies with the national standards for unlimited irrigation and urban reuse. Furthermore, another wastewater scheme, co-financed by EU funds with the beneficiary being the Prefecture of Attica, involves the agglomerations of Koropi and Paiania respectively, which are also currently non-compliant. The aforementioned scheme is presently under development after upgrading with advanced tertiary treatment will also produce quantity of reclaimed water suitable for aquifer recharge to restore the water quality of groundwater bodies.

A multi-criteria assessment of policies to achieve the objectives of the EU marine litter strategy

This paper proposes and assesses policy options to achieve the objectives of the EU marine litter strategy, based on the existing EU legislation. A group of experts and stakeholders was involved through a multi-staged workshop organized to generate the information to assess the contribution of the policies to the set of objectives, as well as the relative importance of the objectives, on qualitative scales. The ELECTRE TRI multi-criteria decision analysis method was used to rate the policies, which were subsequently ranked. Per the results, all policies deserve to be considered, even when the more pessimistic assessments (33rd percentile) are used. Revising the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, setting legislative targets on marine litter and ensure they are fully monitored, and funding proven clean-up technologies were deemed to be the most potentially impactful policies. The remaining policies assessed can nevertheless play an important role in complementing the higher-ranked policies.

Compost versus biogas treatment of sewage sludge dilemma assessment using life cycle analysis

The establishment of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive resulted in an immense increasing quantity of sewage sludge produced from wastewater treatment plants. With most up to date the “Ex-post evaluation of certain waste stream directives”, various legislation and strategies were derived from fulfilling the requirements resulting from this directive appropriately, in an economical and environmentally acceptable way. This paper intends to assess and compare the environmental impact of exploiting the sewage sludge in open windrow facilities for compost production versus using an anaerobic digester for the production of biogas. The two alternative post-processing pathways' environmental assessment is conducted with the use of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The investigation presented that the energy savings for managing sewage sludge for biogas production than producing compost are estimated at 27060 MJ per 1 t of input (SS), and the avoided carbon dioxide emissions are 697 kg/t of digested sludge. The scientific value of this study is that it provides a justified answer to the compost versus biogas dilemma, based on a quantified assessment of both methods' environmental aspects. Life Cycle Assessment's employment brings forth in-depth information regarding the energy embodied in compost and biogas production. The selection among the most ecological method relevant to sewage sludge exploitation is provided by thoroughly sophisticated decision-making. The life cycle stages of the analyzed mechanisms that have the most damaging consequences on the ecosystem include the composting and anaerobic digestion stage, whereas the least energy-consuming stages are the thickening, and drying process, in both scenarios. The Life Cycle Assessment outcomes indicated that the environmental impact of the anaerobic digestion process is lower than the composting process, in the range between 6.5% and 7.5%, across all environment effect levels.The exploitation of waste materials to produce useful products such as compost and biogas gives the final product added environmental value.

Implementation of water sector acquis in Ukraine

This paper provides an overview and analysis of the progress made by Ukraine in implementing Water Sector acquis listed in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The paper concludes that for the most part the transposition of the respective Directives is complete. It is argued, however, that extra effort is required under the Nitrates Directive and the Drinking Water Directive. Notwithstanding tangible gains in the development of River Basin Management Plans, Flood Risk Management Plans and the adoption of the Marine Environmental Strategy of Ukraine, the implementation of the State Water Monitoring Program suffers obvious difficulties caused by the unprovoked and unjustified russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, especially in the areas of active warfare. Massive destruction of infrastructure including centralized water supply and sewerage systems is likely to hinder implementation of the Drinking Water Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in Ukraine.

Simplified methodologies to designate sensitive areas and nitrate vulnerable zones: A case study of Yesilirmak River Basin, Turkey

AbstractThe European Union enforces the member states designate sensitive areas and nitrate vulnerable zones according to Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives Nitrates Directive and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. The aim of this study is to develop an approach for designation of sensitive areas (SAs) and nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) for surface water bodies. SAs are designated with a three‐step approach using initial characterization, physicochemical monitoring, and application of biotic indices. Nitrate concentration data of monitoring stations and the total nitrate loading rates of agriculture were two parameters for the determination of NVZs. This simplified methodology was applied to Yesilirmak River Basin. A total of 42 water bodies (23 river and 19 lake) were specified as SA and 30 water bodies (17 river and 13 lake) were designated as NVZ which constitutes about 63% and 49% of the total drainage area of the basin, respectively. Although the final definition of SAs and NVZs will depend on policies and regulations adopted in Turkey, the study contributed to efforts of Turkish water authorities for the determination of the SAs and NVZs of Turkey.

Precaution and Innovation in the Context of Wastewater Regulation: An Examination of Financial Innovation under UWWTD Disputes in London and Milan

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) under the guidance of the precautionary principle sets out standards to guarantee high quality water services for European citizens. This creates pressure on European cities to update and renew their water infrastructures in accordance with EU Law at great financial cost. Cities within the Union try to bridge this financial gap with a variety of approaches. This paper presents the cases of London and Milan, both of which were subject to legal proceedings for breaching the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. By example of these two cases, this article details how the precautionary principle affects urban water infrastructure provision, and how the regulation of the primary risk of pollution can both trigger innovation and create secondary risks within the highly integrated urban water infrastructure sector. The London case focusses on an individual infrastructure project and shows how its financial framing has compromised the final outcome, while the Milan case presents a longer-view perspective that shows how structural changes in the urban water infrastructure sector have enabled an environment for sustainable financial innovation. The role of transparency and good local governance practices are emphasized for a successful implementation of the precautionary principle requirements in a city’s water sector. Managing this process effectively can result in meaningful social innovation for urban water infrastructure provision.

Indexes for the assessment of bacterial pollution in bathing waters from point sources: The northern Adriatic Sea CADEAU service

This paper presents a novel set of water quality indexes to identify the area potentially affected by point sources of bacterial pollution in coastal bathing waters. The indexes, developed in the framework of the CADEAU service, are evaluated on the results of a modelling system based on the integration of a high-resolution ocean model, remote sensing observations and in situ monitoring data for the northern Adriatic Sea. In particular, the system is a downscaling of the Mediterranean Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service and exploits data produced within the Bathing Waters Directive, the Water Framework Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive to create added value products. The aim of the proposed indexes is to support the identification of areas of influence for bathing waters by identifying the potential threat from point sources of bacterial pollution, both in standard conditions and peculiar events such as a total bypass of wastewater treatment plants. The results for the Chioggia Municipality case study show the potential of the indexes to significantly improve the geographical identification and quantitative evaluation of the impacts of bacterial pollution sources on bathing waters, facilitating the design of mitigation measures. The proposed methodology represents a new management approach to support local authorities in defining the area of influence within the water bathing profile through the proper characterization of the point sources of bacterial pollution.

How EU policies could reduce nutrient pollution in European inland and coastal waters

Intensive agriculture and densely populated areas represent major sources of nutrient pollution for European inland and coastal waters, altering the aquatic ecosystems and affecting their capacity to provide ecosystem services and support economic activities. Ambitious water policies are in place in the European Union (EU) for protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems under the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. This research quantified the current pressures of point and diffuse nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to European fresh and coastal waters (2005–2012), and analysed the effects of three policy scenarios of nutrient reduction: 1) the application of measures currently planned in the Rural Development Programmes and under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD); 2) the full implementation of the UWWTD and the absence of derogations in the Nitrates Directive; 3) high reduction of nutrient, using best technologies in wastewaters treatment and optimal fertilisation in agriculture. The results of the study show that for the period 2005–2012, the nitrogen load to European seas was 3.3–4.1 TgN/y and the phosphorus load was 0.26–0.30 TgP/y. Policy measures supporting technological improvements (third scenario) could decrease the nutrient export to the seas up to 14% for nitrogen and 20% for phosphorus, improving the ecological status of rivers and lakes, but widening the nutrient imbalance in coastal ecosystems (i.e. increasing nitrogen availability with respect to phosphorus), affecting eutrophication. Further nutrient reductions could be possible by a combination of measures especially in the agricultural sector. However, without tackling current agricultural production and consumption system, the reduction might not be sufficient for achieving the goals of EU water policy in some regions. The study analysed the expected changes and the source contribution in different European regional seas, and highlights the advantages of addressing the land-sea dynamics, checking the coherence of measures taken under different policies.

Protection of River Sitnica From Urban Wastewaters

Wastewater treatment is a growing problem in Kosovo. Pollution from urban wastewaters poses the greatest pressure on Kosovo rivers and their better management represents an important area of improving their ecological status. Kosovo is lacking behind in terms of achieving certain goals and implementing European Environmental Directives, especially the Water Framework Directive and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. The lack of wastewater treatment prior to their discharges into receiving waters presents a gap in the water sector which needs to be addressed in order to meet European standards. Kosovo, as a country with a European perspective, must approach this issue as soon as possible. According to the reports of water utilities companies, the level of sewerage services in the country is 65% while the level of wastewater treatment is 0.7% [3]. The National Water Strategy [1] aims at protecting water resources through treating wastewater before returning to the nature. According to this strategy, a number of wastewater treatment plants and accompanying infrastructure for main cities should be build. River Sitnica is main river stretching in Kosovo valley, where main urban areas are located including capital Prishtina. With aim of protection the quality of river Sitnica, a study for collection of sewage and wastewater treatment plant for capital Prishtina was prepared and its findings will be presented in this article.

Trends, insights and effects of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) implementation in the light of the Polish coastal zone eutrophication

The intensification of the Baltic Sea eutrophication is associated with the increase of anthropogenic nutrients loads, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus introduced into surface waters from a diffuse, point and natural background sources. Despite the observed decreasing trends in nutrient concentrations in some parts of the Baltic Sea, eutrophication-related indicators continue to deteriorate. This accelerates harmful algal blooms and dissolved oxygen deficits resulting in severe ecosystem disturbance. The paper presents trends, insights and effects of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC implementation in Poland based on the nutrient riverine loads from Polish territory with particular attention given to the development of municipal wastewater treatment plants under the National Wastewater Treatment Programme 2003–2016. Environmental effects of wastewater infrastructure modernisation are investigated by using available data on the changing nutrient concentrations in the coastal water in 3 basins (Gdansk Basin, Bornholm Basin and Eastern Gotland Basin) belonging to the Polish Exclusive Economic Zone within the Baltic Sea. The results show that the decreasing trend regarding phosphorus loads reduction from municipal effluents was achieved while a stable trend with temporary increases was achieved in terms of nitrogen loads. Moreover, the investigation provides information about the potential bioavailability of discharged effluents before and after the Directive implementation by including total and inorganic forms of nitrogen and phosphorus in the analysis.

Domestic wastewater treatment by real-scale electrocoagulation process.

In this study, domestic wastewaters originating from a settlement with a population of 17,500 were treated by electrocoagulation process in a real-scale EC plant and the economic applicability of the process was investigated. The removal efficiencies of control parameters in the influent and effluent of the real-scale treatment plant such as suspended solids (SS), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and changes of pH and conductivity parameters were monitored for 12 months. The obtained data were evaluated according to European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, Turkish Water Pollution Control Regulation and Turkish Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulation. According to the results obtained, the removal efficiencies of the pollutant parameters were achieved in the range of 72-83% for SS, 67-80% for COD, 69-81% for BOD, 21-47% for TN and 27-46% for TP. Considering the Turkish wastewater discharge regulations, it can be concluded that the discharge standards for SS, COD and BOD parameters were achieved while they were not achieved in certain periods for TN and TP. In addition, the energy consumption and the operating cost of this real-scale plant were determined to be 0.49-0.54 kWh/m3 and 0.24-0.28 EUR/m3, respectively.