A NEW WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY: BUILDING ON WATER

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1 A NEW WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY: BUILDING ON WATER THE SOLUTION TO A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

2 Our constantly growing Metropolises and Megacities around the globe face the immense challenge of providing reliable and functioning Infrastructures to its citizens. This especially includes the worldwide disposal of wastewater, from which 90% is discarded without prior treatment into rivers, lakes and oceans. Fish die, flora and fauna deteriorate, our drinking water supplies are put at risk, water bodies are constantly being subjected to poisons and heavy metal pollution. Humans, plants and animals suffer as a result. 2 A NEW WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY THE SOLUTION TO A GLOBAL CHALLENGE How is this current state of affairs even possible in the year 2017? In many cities or coastal regions there are none or insufficient wastewater treatment plants. Whenever sewage systems are overflowing or defective, there are not enough detention basins being built, which main purpose is to contain the water masses during a heavy rain event and thereby prevent overflowing into nearby water bodies. What is missing are simple, quick-build and cost-effective technologies, that can correct the current catastrophic circumstances on a long-term scale. Conventional wastewater treatment installations require an immense bureaucratic and technical effort to realize as well as substantial sums of money. If we wish to resolve these problems we must tread new paths. Rainwater treatment plant installed on water with artificial wetlands. The storage chambers are found below the water level.

3 BUILDING IN AND ON WATER Windmills on the North Sea, houses designed to raise themselves up during a flood, a swimming barn in Rotterdam, a mosque on the ocean. Concrete spheres at the bottom of Lake Constance in which energy can be stored. Some of these ideas remain in phantasy, but many are already a reality. Who would have deemed these possible just a few years ago? Luritec is a system with which wastewater treatment plants and storm water overflow storages can be installed. The installations are mounted directly where wastewater is discharged: in front of discharge pipes belonging to the present sewage system. Thereby, several aspects, which would otherwise make the planning of conventional installations so complicated and costly, must no longer be considered: The construction of new pipelines leading to the treatment plant across the city. The construction of pumping stations, which transport wastewater to the treatment plant over long paths. Lengthy approval procedures and complicated logistical planning. The expenditures for all of these measures often make up to 50% of the entire costs. Alternatively: Wastewater treatment plants on rivers directly connected to the present sewage system. Storm water overflow storage tanks on the ocean, which capture wastewater from the city nearby. To fill the Installations usually no additional pumps are required because the water bodies, into which the sewage pipes discharge, find themselves at the lowest point of the sewage system. Furthermore, Luritec-installations can be incorporated into landscape planning projects, such as waterfront renewal plans, and become urban planning features of importance. 3 Luritec storm water overflow storage under construction. Location: Spree river in Berlin. Storm water overflow storage with surface utilization.

4 4 Cross section view: Storm water overflow storage on the Spree river. Wastewater treatment plant installed on water.

5 THE BENEFITS IN DETAIL Water Public Property Water bodies are usually owned by the state or local communities. There is no need to acquire costly properties to build pipelines, treatment plants or detention basins on, which often leads to lengthy negotiations and may even end in lands being expropriated. Wastewater Treatment Plants The piping system leading to the treatment plant, which is in most cases placed at the outskirts of the city, is no longer required as well as the energy costs that sum up over decades of pumping wastewater to the treatment plant. The wastewater treated by Luritec-Installations is directly discharged into the receiving water body. THE TECHNOLOGY Luritec can be installed as swimming tanks or anchored to a deep foundation placed at the bottom of the water body. The storage chambers are, depending on the necessary storage volume, assembled from prefabricated pieces, mounted on steel beams and attached to hollow structural section piles driven into the ground. The piles hold the buoyant tanks in place. During winter, the installation surface is kept frost-free. Luritec-installations are designed to withstand floods, strong currents and ship impacts. 5 Ring sewage systems around lakes, which consist of discharge pipes interconnected by an underground piping system, can also be omitted. In such case, the discharge pipes are simply extended into the treatment plant placed on the lake. Inevitable repair costs for long piping systems are avoided. Wastewater leaks into the ground are also prevented. Storm water overflow storage tanks The construction of conventional storage for storm water overflows often leads to massive interventions in transport routes, bypassing, detours being placed and trees cut. The excavation of large pits requires laborious planning and disturbs the daily routines within a city. There is no need to tamper with aquifers or lower the groundwater level, which may have unintended consequences. The installation of a basin on water is done mainly from the water body. Logistical planning is less complicated and can be completed rapidly. The aquifer is left uninterfered with. Worldwide, most sewage pipes discharge into water bodies. For the construction of a treatment plant, pumping stations and long piping systems must also be built. Luritec treatment plants can be directly attached to discharge pipes.

6 6 Visualisierungen: Sven Flechsenhaar Foto: Luri.Watersystems.GmbH Luri.Watersystems.GmbH Köpenicker Straße D Berlin Tel Fax HRB B Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg Ust-IdNr DE Legal notice This leaflet has been composed with the utmost attention to detail. Nevertheless, both Author and client do not accept any liability for any errors pertaining to the information, hints and recommendations provided in this leaflet as well as any typing or printing errors. The contents serve solely for informational purposes and are legally unbinding. Information about the scope of delivery, appearance, performance, dimensions and weight of all products correspond to the available knowledge during data entry. Therefore, any changes are expressly reserved. All information about equipment, technical data and scope of delivery is based on the characteristics of the German market. For this reason, both author and client will not be held liable for any consequences during implementation.