Residues of pharmaceuticals used in human medical care have recently been detected as important trace contaminants of sewage, surface and groundwater. This paper compiles the recent state of knowledge on the occurrence and fate of pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment of urban areas. Findings in sewage effluents, surface, ground, and drinking water at concentrations up to the µg/L-level have been reported and will be discussed to demonstrate the impact of pharmaceutical residues on the aquatic environment and on public water supply. The efficiency of natural and technological processes such as bank filtration or membrane filtration for the removal of pharmaceutical residues including estrogenic steroids, analgesics, antibiotics, anti-epileptic drugs, blood lipid regulators, and several drug metabolites will be presented and discussed.

Investigations on the behavior of different bulk organics and trace organic compounds at a bank filtration site at Lake Tegel in Berlin, Germany, and in a long retention soil column system are reported. Objective of the research was to assess important factors of influence for the degradation of bulk and trace organics. More than two years of monitoring for the bulk parameter DOC proved that the redox conditions significantly influence the DOC-degradation kinetic but not necessarily the residual concentration. LC-OCD measurements confirmed that the change in character is comparable for aerobic and anoxic/anaerobic infiltration. Only the fraction of polysaccharides shows a better removal under aerobic conditions. Furthermore, adsorbable organic iodine (AOI) measurements revealed a more efficient degradation of AOI and AOBr under anoxic/anaerobic conditions. The monitoring of the single organic pollutants Iopromide, Sulfamethoxazole and naphthalenedisulfonic acids showed that the redox conditions have an influence on the degradation behavior of some of the monitored compounds. Iopromide was efficiently removed at all times, but no evidence for a dehalogenation under oxic conditions was found. Sulfamethoxazole showed a better removal under anoxic/anaerobic conditions. The very stable 1.5naphthalenesulfonic acid was not removed under either redox conditions.

Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurde das Berliner Abwassersystem hinsichtlich einer Abflusssteuerung untersucht. Auf Grundlage des Merkblattes DWA-M 180 wurde zunächst die formale Bewertung des Steuerungspotenzials des Berliner Mischsystems durchgeführt. Weiter wurde für Niederschlagsereignisse des Jahres 2003 eine statische Bilanzierung bezüglich anfallender Wassermengen und vorhandenem Speichervolumen aufgestellt. Anhand von ausgewählten Ereignisse wurden dann für verschiedene Szenarien die Auswirkungen einer geänderten Förderstrategie untersucht. Im Vordergrund standen eine gleichmäßige Nutzung der Systemkapazitäten, die Verringerung von Mischwasserentlastungen und die Reduzierung des Mischwasserabflusses zur Kläranlage.

The paper presents the build-up of a model for the integrated simulation of the sewage system of Berlin, Germany, focusing on the catchment of the wastewater treatment plant Ruhleben. The Ruhleben catchment, draining 185 km² and a population of 1.38 million inhabitants is characterised by its high portion of combined sewerage. The model comprises the collection system, pump stations, pressurised mains and the wastewater treatment plant. Hydraulic and quality processes are taken into account. A preliminary assessment of the sewage system and the analysis of historical operational data showed a high potential concerning global real-time control of the pump stations. Three different global control scenarios have been studied on the basis of a long time simulation over 50 days and compared with a local control regime. The results show that the coordinated operation leads to a reduction of total emissions. Main improvements can be achieved concerning the discharges from combined sewer overflows. These improvements are of major significance due to the high hazard potential of combined sewer overflows.

Two major points of view prevail in modelling aquatic ecosystems. For practitioners, the key question in modelling aquatic ecosystems is how well models describe system reactions to changes – particularly trophic change and climate change – and in consequence, how useful models are for predicting system responses and for informing water-body management. For researchers, the modelling objective is to investigate functional interactions between ecosystem components, to understand complex causalities and to identify knowledge gaps to close with further lab and field work. Ideally, successful modelling should address both purposes. A need for more intensive communication between modellers of both groups, as well as other model users, was identified at a modellers’ workshop organised by the project “OLIGO” in autumn 2005. OLIGO (2003-2007) was a project of the Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB), executed by researchers of the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) and the Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB) and funded by Veolia Water. Following up on the recommendation of this workshop and in the context of finalising this project, UBA together with KWB organised a 2-day workshop in Berlin, 8-9 November 2007. The workshop was hosted by the Berliner Wasserbetriebe and brought together 60 modellers and model users from 6 countries. The workshop aimed to consolidate and document the state of the art in modelling water quality in reaction to nutrient load or climate change, to discuss how well current lake and reservoir models can support and inform decision-makers, including dealing with the uncertainty of model predictions, and to explore future perspectives and needs for the development of models.

Erfahrungen aus dem Betrieb einer Membranbelebung mit diskontinuierlichem Schlammabzug werden vorgestellt. Das Ziel ist, den Einfluss der Betriebsbedingungen auf Fouling und den Abbau extrazellulärer polymerer Substanzen zu bestimmen sowie mit bekannten Zusammenhängen aus Anlagen mit kontinuierlichem Abzug zu vergleichen.