Printer-friendly versionIn this section you can be informed about our other core activity, mainly sewage handling service.
In this section you can be informed about our other core activity, mainly sewage handling service.
Sewage utilities
Sewage utilities are special establishments that serve the purpose of sewage disposal. Among others, drain-pipes and sewage-cleaning systems belong to this category. Sewage utilities are owned by the Hungarian state and local authorities. These are operated by Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation on the basis of different contracts (concession, operational, or trusteeship contracts).
The systems operated by Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation
Lake Balaton Regional Sewage Cleaning and Disposal Works
Lake Velence Regional Sewage Cleaning and Disposal Works
Local Sewage Cleaning Works
Sewage disposal
The sewage insurging from the use of water must be drained away and cleaned in order to ensure that it does not pollute our environment. The ecological balance of our waters – especially of lakes such as Lake Balaton and Velencei – would be overturned if sewage water could flow into them without cleaning, since sewage-mud contains not only organic materials but germs and several solid pollutants as well.
In the case of some of our consumers, there is a system of pipes with several diameters collecting and draining sewage water away to the sewage works. If features of the ground permit, sewage water flows with gravity.
In many cases the pressure needed for the flow within the sewage drain must be provided by the pumps operating next to the sewage lever.
The second group consists of consumers whose settlement has no draining system built yet; they need to use the services of a contractor with the necessary licences. The contractor will arrange the delivery of the pumped drain water to the allocated place.
Sewage cleaning
In sewage works, the bigger pieces of solid materials are first filtered out by grids; then the sand-like pollution found in sewage water is settled.
This is followed by the extraction of the organic materials of sewage water by biological cleaning, using “activated sludge”. Organic materials are accumulated and broken down by “activated sludge” consisting of microorganisms, which is extracted from the sewage water in post-settling tanks.
After the mechanical and biological cleaning, a third level, chemical cleaning is sometimes needed in order to remove the remaining directly absorbable vegetal substances (phosphorus, nitrogenous compounds).
The last cleaning phase is disinfection, when the microorganisms remained in sewage water must be destroyed by disinfectants. At the end of the cleaning process the quality of the water will not be sufficient as drinking water, but it will be safe to let it flow into lakes and rivers.
The “sewage warp” accruing from sewage cleaning must first be dehydrated, because it only has 1-3 per cent of solid content, the rest of it is water. The liquated water arising at dehydration is flowed back to the beginning of the cleaning technology. The dehydrated sewage mud is composted and used in agriculture for amelioration. There is another way of making use of mud: compressed mud is placed by injection.
Water quality control during sewage-disposal and cleaning
As for the cleaned sewage water, it can only be allowed to flow back into our live waters under controlled circumstances. The quality of the sewage water treated by Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation is controlled continuously in our own laboratories. Samples are taken from the sewage water when it arrives, during the cleaning technology and before its discharge into nature. In order to avoid environmental pollution, experts examine whether the cleaned water contains bacteria, organic materials, phosphorus, nitrogene or salt. Apart from the experts of Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation, the Inspectorate for Environment, Nature and Water also examines the quality of the cleaned sewage water flowing into our natural waters.
Repair of breakdown in the drainage system
There are several potential breakdowns in the drainage system whose fast and efficient solution may be a significant challenge to our experts aiming to ensure smooth supply. Although less often than in the case of the drinking water system, broken pipes might occur within the drainage system as well. Obstruction is a frequent problem, because careless people sometimes throw into the drain-pipe things other than sewage water. It is of vital importance that materials obstructing the operation of the system and of the sewage works should not be let into the drainage system. That is why fat, oil, paint, petrol, toxic or acid materials, plastic or glass bottles, rubbish from construction, animal carcasses must not be let into the drain. Most of the time, the obstruction can be stopped through the washing of the pipe system.
The second most frequent cause of breakdown is the error of the sewage pump operating in sewage levers.
Should you notice any problem in the sewage system, please call our directorates so that we can solve the problem in the shortest possible time.
The harmful effects of dehumidifying
The sewage water let into the soil pollutes ground-water, which is often connected to the water reserve providing our drinking water. Apart from natural materials, the remains of household chemicals can also be found in sewage water, which pollute our environment.
In the case of a closed sewage catchment, the domestic sewage needs to be delivered regularly by an aseptic tank cleaner. We ask our consumers to entrust our corporation or a licensed entrepreneur with adequate know-how to have the sewage water delivered to the place determined by the authorities. The sewage water extracted must not be let into natural waters or the shaft of a public drain-canal.
Drainage of precipitation water
The drain system operated by our company has been designed only to drain away sewage water. In case a large amount of precipitation water gets into the drain pipe, its delivery together with sewage water means extra problem and costs, and can sometimes lead to sewage overflow. The sewage works are also unable to clean the sudden large amount of thin sewage water; therefore, our natural waters are loaded with cleaned sewage water of worse quality.
Our corporation tries to locate cases of illegal tie-in of precipitation water with the help of fog-developing equipment and video cam examinations.
Odour control technology
During the collection and delivery of sewage water, its condition continuously deteriorates depending on the delivery time and the physical and chemical/biochemical changes of sewage water. The process is accompanied by the loss of solved oxygen; at the same time, the types of microorganisms breaking down the organic materials contained in sewage water also change.
The Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation – in cooperation with the inventor professionals of Budapest University of Technology and Economics – has successfully applied its patent called “Limited addition of nitrates in order to decrease the odour and biocorrosion effects of sewage water” for more than a decade.
The equipment operates successfully, and the method can be adapted for very different sorts of communal sewage water and draining systems. The design of the dispenser equipment is adjusted to the possibilities of the environment. It can be placed above the surface in a small building, or it can be partly or entirely buried under the surface.
The computer-lead handling and control mechanism of the dispensing system was developed in 2000-2001 by Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Corporation, in cooperation with the R&D Deputy State Secretariat of the Ministry of Education and other partners. We applied for a patent both in Hungary and abroad in 2002. The software – carrying out the supervision and handling of the dispensing system – is able to find the solution applied earlier successfully in similar situations.
In addition to eliminating the odours that would irritate the population, the use of the system contributes to the significant reduction of the concrete and metal corrosion, thus increasing the duration of life of the drain pipe system.
The process, using environmental friendly materials in the entire technology, is officially authorized.