The largest Lithuanian water management company "Vilniaus vandenys" for almost 5.5 million. euros, intends to basically renovate two of the six bioreactors located in the Vilnius City Wastewater Treatment Plant, which treat wastewater generated in the capital, by the end of this year. After receiving the construction permit, the company started preparing for the work back in June, and on July 8. the beginning of the most important works of this stage was marked by a capsule delivered by an unmanned aerial vehicle and concreted into the bottom of the bioreactor with wishes to preserve a clean environment for future generations.
According to the General Director of "Vilniaus vandenų" Mariaus Švaikauskas, the reconstruction of the Vilnius City Wastewater Treatment Plant has finally acquired a real physical form. Back in June, after receiving a construction permit, all the necessary equipment was brought here and the first works of the XNUMXst stage of the reconstruction of the Vilnius city sewage treatment plant began.
"It's time to strengthen the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has been operating in Vilnius for more than 30 years, with modern modern technologies, because as the city expands, the amount of both wastewater and pollutants in it increases. The reconstruction of the sections of the bioreactor will fundamentally improve wastewater treatment - technologies for removing nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants will be installed, which will allow not only to clean pollutants more efficiently, but also to increase the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant", says M. Švaikauskas.
"Reconstruction has been needed for a long time, but we have to admit that we had to gather a lot of political will for it, because for many years environmental protection was a secondary issue. Today, we really have a radically changed attitude - we are attentive to the surrounding environment and set ourselves higher standards than the various directives and regulations. We understand that repeated ecological disasters or low-quality water management services will affect future generations, therefore we consider the modernization of treatment facilities as inevitable and, perhaps, the best starting point", says the Vice Mayor of the city of Vilnius Valdas Benkunskas.
Currently, 6 bioreactors are used in the wastewater treatment plant of the city of Vilnius. It is the most important treatment chain responsible for the biological treatment of wastewater. During the first stage of reconstruction, all bioreactors will be renovated, all bioreactors will be adapted for nitrogen and phosphorus removal. After the reconstruction of the bioreactors, the capacity of the biological chain will be increased by even 50%, with the installation of additional equipment, it is intended to increase the purification of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants by more than 60%. It was these pollutants that the morally outdated treatment plant was not always able to clean.
In a symbolic capsule lowered to the bottom of the emptied section of the first treatment plant bioreactor, the company and the partners who signed the memorandum - the Ministries of the Environment, Vilnius city municipalities representatives, as well as the company's contractors and members of the public who wished to join the memorandum promised to carry out sustainable activities to preserve nature and the green city of Vilnius for future generations. And continue to make maximum efforts to preserve all that we have today.
"We are determined to create a cleaner and greener city, to raise the quality of wastewater management services provided to the residents of Vilnius. This reconstruction of the wastewater treatment plant is a significant step of our company in preserving nature. "The tightening of national and international environmental protection requirements encourages us to pay attention to growing pollution problems and to act more responsibly for everyone - both industry and legal and physical users", says the head of "Vilniaus Vandenų".
The largest wastewater treatment plant in Vilnius city and county managed by "Vilniaus vandenų" collects and cleans more than 100 thousand cubic meters of wastewater per day and almost 130 tons of various pollutants. After the three-year (2020-2023) reconstruction, the capacity of the Wastewater Treatment Plant will increase to 160. cubic meters of wastewater per day and more than 150 tons of pollutants.
The reconstruction of the treatment plant will also solve the problems caused by frequent rains in the capital. In order to ensure greater throughput of the sewage treatment plant during the rains, when the sewage treatment plant has to process a sudden increase in a large amount of sewage, a new grate building with sand pits will be built, where the primary sewage treatment takes place, the primary sludge and return sludge pumping stations will be renovated, replacing the worn out, non-functioning equipment, and the reconstruction of the distribution , communication channels, replaced pipelines.
"It takes up to half a year to fully restore one bioreactor. It is important for the city to have a treatment plant as soon as possible. Therefore, today, when construction permits have already been obtained, we have mobilized our forces and are ready to undertake a project that is of great importance not only for Vilnius, but also for the quality of river water in the entire country", says Marius Citavičius, director of the company "Arginta", which performs reconstruction work.
In order to clean pollutants more efficiently, it is planned to install the so-called tertiary cleaning equipment in the reconstructed treatment plant - an additional cleaning circuit in which small particles and phosphorus would be cleaned. Tertiary treatment could be one of the alternative technologies used to contain plastics in wastewater. Looking for solutions for the future, the company is already processing and using the sludge extracted here for the production of electricity in the wastewater treatment plant.
The reconstruction works of the wastewater treatment plant officially started in 2020. in August. The total investment in the renovation of the sewage treatment plant amounts to almost 44 million. EUR, of which more than half of the funds will be provided by the Vilniaus Vandenys company, the rest by the Ministry of Environment from the structural funds of the European Union.
The consortium led by Arginta UAB, which includes Atzwanger SpA and EMIT group - Ercole Marelli Impianti Technologici Srl, became the contractor for Vilnius Waters.
The reconstruction works of the treatment plant are planned to be carried out in stages. The most in their quantity and value, for 32.8 million. euros, intended to be carried out in the first stage of reconstruction. The works are intended to be completed within three years from the signing of the contract with the contractors.
