Partners - EUROMBRA
Membrane bioreactor technology for advanced municipal wastewater treatment strategies

Water Authority Hollandse Delta (WHD) is responsible for water quantity and water quality in the south region of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The region has a surface of 85,000 hectares. It is a democratic public organisation. The council of the Water Board is chosen by public elections every 4 years. The number of inhabitants in the region is 825,000. WHD has over 550 employees.

An important task of the Water Board is drainage and pumping water out of the region as the region is below the sea level. Another task in the field of water quantity is sea defence over a distance of 351 km. Another important task is the care for surface water quality, e.g. by research, planning, control activities and permitting. Another task is the treatment of urban wastewater. For this task the water board owns and operates 22 wastewater treatment plants, approx. 60 sewage pumping stations and approx. 200 km pressure mains. The total treatment capacity amounts to 1.88 million population equivalent. An important mission of WHD with respect to wastewater treatment is to meet all official demands for effluent quality and for other environmental aspect as noise and smell. WHD wishes to work active on research and the development of new techniques to improve the quality of its task of wastewater treatment, and to be prepared for new effluent demands in the future. The research project with the membrane bioreactor is an example of this attitude. The MBR pilot has been built at the wwtp of Heenvliet. The MBR has a capacity of 100 m3/h. The total plant capacity amounts to 390 m3/h. The MBR can be operated as a separate wwtp, but can also be combined with the conventional plant resulting in a hybrid MBR in which a significant part of the wastewater is treated in the MBR.