Vízügyi Közlemények, 1997 (79. évfolyam)

3. füzet - Rövidebb tanulmányok, közlemények, beszámolók

392 Ijjas I. dition to the consortium experts from the EU member countries and local organisations and consultants from the Danube Basin countries worked on the project. The study was funded by the PHARE Programme of the Commission of the European Union on the advice of the Danube Programme Coordination Unit, Vienna. However, the findings, interpretation and conclusions expressed in this paper should not be attributed in any manner to the Commission of the European Union, to the Danube Programme Coordination Unit or to the countries they represent. The following tasks were executed by the country teams: Task 1 : Detergents used in the Danube Basin countries Task 2: Detergents produced in the Danube Basin countries Task 3: P-load into surface water in the Danube Basin Task 4: Autonomous development scenarios in the Danube basin countries Task 5: Legal situation related to p in detergents and P-removal from waste water Task 6: Problems in relation to a fast change to P-free detergents in the Danube Basin Task 7: Alternatives for solutions to oversime the problems. Task 8: Feasible development scenarios for the Danube Basin Task 9: Costs and benefits of the scenarios Task 10: Environmental effects of substitutes of P and other surfactants. The study area covered by the Project was the Danube basin, without Yugoslavia and BosniaHercegovina. The actual area covered was 664,532 km

2 which is approximately 82% of the total area of the Danube basin (Figure 1.). The European continent has three large semi-enclosed seas of similar area which are heavily impacted by human activities. At least 162 million people live in the Black Sea Basin. About 85 million of these live in the Danube Basin alone (Table I). There has been an enormous increase in the nutrient load to the Black Sea in the past 25 years, probably as a consequence of the widespread use of phosphate detergents and intensification of agriculture. The annual specific consumption of detergents poer capita in recent years varies from about 1.0 to 11.6 kg in the Danube Basin countries (Table II). There is a great potential for reduction of the use of phosphorus in detergents. The recent market analysis showed that significant quantities of detergents are in use in the Danube Basin countries (Table II). The market analysis made by the Consultants in different countries showed that significant quantities of phosphate containing detergents are in use in the studied Danube Basin countries of which 6,000 t P/year is collected by sewers an 5,100 t P/year enter into surface waters. The percentage of P from detergents takes the 5-41 percentage of the total P-load from population (Table III). The Consultants from the different countries have provided information in the Country Reports about the expected results of the measures taken or planned between 1995 and 2005 to reduce inputs of P from municipal treatment plants by new and upgraded existing sewerage and wastewater treatment capacity. Those measures were considered as autonomous development scenarios. It is expected that by 2005 at least 46.5 million (66% of the total population of the studied area included Germany and Austria) will be connected to sewerage and 42.5 million (61% of the total population of the studied area) will be connected to waste water treatment plants (Table IV.) It was reported by the Consultants that the extension of sewerage will cause a major increase of P into surface water. The consultants described the most likely abatement measures for reducing phosphorus loadings from the population in the Danube Basin. Table V. presents an overview of the main measures selected by the consultants for the phosphate policy of the different countries. The two types of measures were analyzed in the present study, in detail: the P-removal from detergents and P-removal from waste waters. The Consultants estimated the phosphorous loads into surface waters from detergents in the Danube Basin countries in 2000 and 2005. Reduction in phosphorus loads caused by detergents is quoted to be 20-63% (Scenario A) and 30-90% (Scenario B) in 2005. The estimated percentage