Multi-dimensional Aspects of Wastewater Treatment Fez:

Transcription

1 Multi-dimensional Aspects of Wastewater Treatment Fez: What Happens When You Don t Get It Right Water Week 2004 Session on Innovations in Urban Wastewater Inés Fraile, Senior Infrastructure Specialist and Co-chair of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Thematic group The World Bank, February 25 th, 2004

2 Outline Context 1996 Sewerage Master Plan Situation in 2003 Multi-dimensional Problem: Slow Progress Due to Several Factors Towards a Solution

3 Context Fez: Inland City of Morocco

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5 Context City of Rich Cultural Heritage

6 Context Tourist, Industrial and Artisan City Large and beautiful Medina (old city center) with sinuous, narrow, streets and many artisans Second industrial pole of the country after Casablanca- Mohammedia: 25,000 jobs in 400 enterprises, dispersed within the city with also some specialized industrial/artisan areas

7 Context Basic Data Population in 2000: about 949,000 inhabitants of which about 892,000 with private water connection and 803,000 connected to sewerage collection network Projected population in 2015: 1,567,000 inhabitants Average water consumed (by those connected): 81 l.p.c.d. Estimated average volume of wastewater disposed of untreated: 103,497 m3/day Estimated total pollution charge: 640 mg/l too high to originate from domestic use only Industrial pollution from factories and artisans: main activities: food production, textiles, and tanneries, but also oil production and metal artisans ( didondiers )

8 1996 Comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan The local multi-sector utility, RADEEF (Fez s Régie ), planned to build: a municipal wastewater treatment plant, a pilot treatment plant for margines, a liquid residue resulting from olive oil production and an industrial pollution treatment plant for chromium removal ( station de déchromatation ) with AfD, European Community, USAID s financing improvements to sewerage collection network financed by World Bank in order to bring environmental and public health benefits

9 Situation in 2003 No municipal wastewater treatment plant built yet, feasibility and environmental impact studies underway Some farmers irrigate in the area with this effluent Other users

10 Situation in 2003 Treatment Plant for Olive Residue Built

11 Situation in 2003 but small treated volumes due to operational difficulties - initial capacity of only about 50% total annual volumes generated Volume of treated "margines" (m3) 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,

12 Situation in 2003 An industrial pollution treatment plant for chromium removal built in neighborhood of Dokkarat but remains almost unused - effluent not effectively separated in tanneries

13 Situation in 2003: Poor Quality of Water in Oued de Sebou River Basin

14 Heath Hazards in Areas Irrigated with Fez s Polluted Waters in Oued de Sebou

15 Multi-dimensional Problem Slow Progress Due to Several Factors Institutional, Technical Financial Wastewater Treatment Socio-economic Policy, regulatory

16 Technical and Institutional Issues Proposed process for municipal wastewater treatment plant: anaerobic lagoons as the leastcost solution However, working assumption that land was available proved to be optimistic: land acquisition of large area became a very sensitive issue RADEEF s relative inexperience with sewerage and wastewater treatment (sewerage sector behind water sector in Morocco: only 7% of wastewater collected is treated and out of 54 only 14 wastewater treatment plants are working) No water police in place

17 Financial Issues Huge investment needs: back-log of investments in sewerage, previously a local government responsibility Total investment plan too ambitious for RADEEF s financial capacity: tariff increases and performance improvements (i.e. reduction of unaccounted for water) did not materialize as planned in financial forecasts Lack of central Government subsidies for wastewater treatment Thus RADEEF decided to postpone construction of municipal wastewater treatment plant RADEEF covers all operation and transportation costs of oil residue treatment plant of margines equivalent to about 20 dollars/m 3 since no cost-sharing or recovery mechanism from oil producers is in place

18 Socio-economic Issues Pre-treatment of effluent from artisan tanneries and didondiers (heavy metals) requires their relocation out of the Medina, where they have traditionally sold their merchandise

19 Socio-economic Issues Militant for wastewater treatment: irrigation development in Oued of Sebou (for which dams were built) delayed due to concerns about health hazards of polluted water higher incidence of illness already measured in those areas Against wastewater treatment: local and central Government reluctant to force industries and artisans to install pre-treatment facilities or use cleaner techniques because of socio-economic impact in the city but main responsibility for action at city level

20 Policy and Regulatory Issues 1995 Water Law introduces principle of polluter pays However application decrees not yet issued due to financial constraints, poor interministerial coordination Water quality stated as high Government priority but budget re-allocations haven t followed due to inertia, sector fragmentation (substantial higher investments in mobilization of water and water supply during last decade)

21 Towards a Solution Recognize complexity, set up modest objectives Work at various levels of Government: Central: approve decrees, support, promote, finance municipal wastewater treatment plant; foster industrial pretreatment (FED is a fund for industrial pollution treatment) Local: enforce land use regulations, pay water bills, arrears Encourage greater coordination among various government Ministries, agencies: RADEEF, Urban Planning, Basin Agency, Min. Agriculture, Min. Finance, Min Interior Clarify who will be in charge of enforcement RADEEF can legally enforce certain quality criteria of effluents collected through its sewerage network but it is not realistic to expect it to do it without full backing from local and central Government

22 Pre-treatment Required Fez s Industrial, Artisan Zones

23 Towards a Solution Need for partnerships between public and private sector (Feasibility and Environmental Impact Studies identify urgent need for pre-treatment of industrial effluents): need to increase public awareness start by focusing on 3 largest industries which generate about 40% of charge of pollution continue to educate, work with artisans Introduce central Government subsidies for high priority wastewater treatment projects (set up clear criteria) estimated costs of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant in Fez: US$ 100 million, operating costs of US$ 10 million

24 Possible Locations of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

25 Comments, questions? Thank you