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The system will mark the locations of individual wastewater treatment plants and information about them. For example, the type of facility, when the wastewater was pumped in and where it was removed for disposal, when the facility was serviced, was it inspected by state environmental control officials, etc.
Currently, almost a quarter (about 23%) of the country’s population manages wastewater on an individual basis. Some use biological treatment plants, others collect wastewater in tanks or septic tanks, underground tanks with a biological or mechanical treatment system.
Some of these measures are being misused, leading to environmental pollution. Several residents still discharge sewage into reservoirs. Most of them were installed a long time ago, are leaking, or have too small a capacity. If there is not enough capacity, the sewage must be pumped very frequently. And this requires additional time and costs.
The sewage from the tank generally pollutes not only the soil but also the bodies of water. Domestic wastewater is rich in pollutants that can have a negative impact on nature. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus compounds contribute to ecosystem change – eutrophication. Over time, certain plants and the species that depend on them can become extinct.
Surface contamination from poorly managed individual wastewater facilities also enters the layers of groundwater used for drinking. Therefore, it contains an unacceptable increase in the concentration of nitrogenous compounds (nitrates, nitrites, ammonium). This is especially relevant for the large cities of the country, whose suburbs are expanding rapidly, the former collective gardens, arable land and meadows have been turned into individual house blocks.
In most cases, potable water is still supplied and wastewater is treated individually. According to data from the Lithuanian Geological Survey under the Ministry of the Environment, nitrate contamination in water from individual wells on the outskirts and suburbs of Vilnius is worrisome.
Although many investments are made to improve the water quality of water bodies in Lithuania, in many places it is still not possible to achieve good status. The European Commission is of the opinion that our country has not yet fulfilled its obligations to collect all the load resulting from individual wastewater treatment systems and to ensure that wastewater is treated in accordance with the requirements of the Urban Wastewater Directive. . The development of NTIS is one of the ways to solve wastewater management problems.
According to Kastytis Gedminas, Chief Specialist of the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment, the possibility of forcing the population with biological wastewater treatment plants to organize laboratory tests of the quality is now being put into practice. of treated wastewater at certain intervals and enter its results into the NTIS. considered. If the established pollution standards are exceeded, the information will be received by the environmental control authority through the system.
The NTIS will be aimed at municipalities, state environmental control officials, all participants in the water management sector. It will facilitate monitoring of the status of water bodies, help automate control and information supply processes, and significantly increase process transparency.
NTIS is expected to go live in 2023. and there should be a pilot version by 2022. final. The project is funded by the EU.
