Bank filtration (BF) and aquifer recharge (AR): aquifer storage recharge (ASR), aquifer storage transport recharge (ASTR); are natural and semi-natural methods for drinking water treatment and constitute a major barrier within water supply system. Recent investigations have shown that about 60 % of Berlin’s drinking water is produced via BF or AR (Zippel & Hannappel 2008). Most drinking water therefore originates from surface waters within the cities limits and is pumped from wells adjacent to it’s many lakes and rivers. Since more than 100 years this system has been supplying safe drinking water so that post-treatment is limited to aeration and subsequent sand filtration. Disinfection is usually not applied (SenStadtUm 2008). The research project NASRI (“Natural and Artificial Systems for Recharge and Infiltration”, KWB 2002 – 2006), funded by the Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB) and Veolia (VE) had the aim to characterize the specific hydraulic and hydrochemical conditions at selected BF and AR sites in Berlin and to assess the behaviour of major water constituents, trace organic substances, algal toxins and pathogens during subsurface passage. For this, field investigations at three transsects (Lake Tegel BFsite, Lake Tegel AR-site and Lake Wannsee), laboratory and technical scale experiments were carried out by 7 different working groups. The results of the investigations were documented in 6 extensive research reports and were the basis for nearly 50 scientific publications. In 2007 the IC-NASRI project (Integration & Consolidation of the NASRI outcomes) was initiated by VE and BWB in order to support the practical implementation and optimization of bank filtration and aquifer recharge for drinking water production with the experience gained during the NASRI project. The aim was to derive practical guidelines for design and operation of BF & AR systems by i) further interpretation of the NASRI data and ii) integrating experience from other BF / AR sites world wide. Although subsurface passage is characteristic to many systems of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) the investigations within IC-NASRI concentrated on systems where drinking water is produced by infiltration of surface water either from the banks of a lake / river or from infiltration ponds (or similar systems like ditches or irrigation fields). A transfer of the presented results to other MAR systems, which use different recharge methods (e.g. ASR) or different sources (e.g. treated wastewater) therefore needs to be considered carefully, even though many statements may be true for them as well. This reports aims at providing engineers and scientists involved in drinking water production by BF & AR with up-to-date information on settings of similar systems world wide and on the systems’ performance with regard to drinking water treatment. The aim was to give the reader a condensed overview of the topic whereas further details can be taken from the large number of references given in the bibliography.

Within the European project TECHNEAU (www.techneau.org) the Berlin Center of Competence for Water (KWB) is investigating bank filtration (BF) and adjusted post-treatment as a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) technique to provide sustainable and safe drinking water supply to developing and newly industrialised countries. One of the tasks within the project is the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) to assess the feasibility of BF systems under varying boundary conditions such as: (i) quality of surface and ambient groundwater, (ii) local hydrological and hydrogeological properties (e.g. clogging layer) and (iii) well field design (distance to bank) and operation (pumping rates). Since the successful, cost-effective implementation of BF systems requires the optimization of multiple objectives such as (i) optimizing the BF share in order to maintain a predefined raw water quality, (ii) maintaining a predefined minimum travel time between bank and production well and (iii) achieving cost-efficiency of different well field design and operation schemes, all these objectives need to be addressed within the DSS.

Recent results show that cylindrospermopsin is more frequent and widespread in surface waters than previously assumed. Studies on the fate of CYN in sediments are lacking, but this is important if these resources are used for drinking-water production via sediment passage. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine a) CYN retention in two sandy sediments as a function of flow rate, CYN concentration, the presence of DOM and the content of fines (1% and 4%, respectively) and b) the influence of sediment preconditioning and DOM composition of the water (aquatic DOM versus DOM released from lysed cells) on CYN degradation. Retention of CYN proved negligible under the investigated conditions. Degradation in virgin sediments showed the highest lag phases (20 days). Preconditioned sediments showed no lag phase. The presence of aquatic DOM yielded highest degradation rates (k1 ¼0.46 and 0.49 day 1) without a lag phase. Readily available organic carbon sources were preferentially metabolized and hence induced a lag phase. Thus, the presence and composition of DOM in the water proved important for both CYN degradation rates in preconditioned sediments and for the lag phase. Cylindrospermopsin degradation took place solely in the sediment and not in the water body.

Some tropical cyanobacteria have spread to temperate freshwaters during the last decades. To evaluate their further development in temperate lakes, we studied the temperature- and light-dependent growth of three invasive (Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, Anabaena bergii and Aphanizomenon aphanizomenoides) and three native (Aphanizomenon gracile, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Anabaena macrospora) cyanobacterial species (Nostocales) from German lakes. We also included one potentially invasive (Aphanizomenon ovalisporum) Nostocales species. We conducted semi-continuous culture experiments and a microcosm experiment along a natural light gradient. Temperature data were used to design a model to simulate the development of selected species according to three temperature scenarios (past, present and future). Native species had significantly higher growth rates than invasive species and the potential invader A. ovalisporum at low temperatures (<= 10 °C), while the opposite was true at high temperatures (>= 35 °C). Maximum growth rates of A. ovalisporum, A. aphanizomenoides and C. raciborskii were clearly higher than those of A. bergii and the native species. Regarding light-dependent growth, significant differences were found between single species but not between all native and invasive species. The model simulation demonstrates a shift in dominance from the native A. gracile in the historic scenario to C. raciborskii populations in the future scenario, in which also the potential invader A. ovalisporum is able to establish populations in temperate lakes. Our findings suggest that any further temperature increase would promote the growth and development of Nostocales species in general, and that of the invasive species in particular, and would enable a more northward expansion of A. ovalisporum.