Monitoring & Assessment: Wastewater

Waste Water Characterisation Study 2012

Effluent Characterisation Study Part A: WWTP Characterisation - Final Report

Summary: In June 2011, the EPA initiated a national wastewater monitoring study to facilitate reporting of Priority substances/PRTR pollutants by local authorities, regarding their EPA licensed wastewater treatment plants.

The study was guided by an EPA led inter-organisational steering group and involved sampling and analysis of waste water discharges from 11 UWWTPs over the course of 1 year. The chemical analysis on the collected waste water samples was used to determine concentrations PRTR pollutants and other pollutants of concern which have been found in Irish water courses. 88 pollutants were analysed in the influents and effluents from the UWWTPs over 4 sampling rounds.

The main outcomes from this study include:

• Better quality data on pollutant releases to water from WWDL facilities for PRTR reporting requirements and other purposes.
• Development of an innovative effective E-reporting tool which will assist local authorities in their reporting obligations to the EPA by making a reporting system  that is automated, user friendly, time-saving and efficient. 
• Contribute to important research in the wastewater sector for dissemination to third-level education institutes and to the public.
• Better information for the citizen through display of environmental information on EPA’s website. 
• The information and data obtained from this important study will undergo cross- organisational sharing through workshops and seminars. 

The Effluent Characterisation Study Final Report and dataset (published in November 2012) is also available on the EPA's Safer Data Archive.