CROWATER - Stenghtening of public-private partnership in order to improve wastewater management in Croatia

The project aimed to complete national water and wastewater management procedures by supporting Croatian Waters in creating a new laboratory for analysis of biodegradable components in wastewater. Project outputs aimed to contribute to the national water protection strategy and to the country's ultimate compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC).

More specifically, the project presented Best Available Technologies (BATs) to plant operators and managers in several hot-spot sites where high pollution risks existed from inappropriate waste water treatment (WWT) systems. BATs were proposed as solutions to problems noted in the operation of the WWT plants. In total, 19 WWT plant were visited (13 communal and 6 industrial) during the project. Samples were taken and analysed and detailed recommendations were prepared for seven of these plants. The remaining 12 sites were not considered suitable for further inclusion in the LIFE project since they were not fully operational. Conclusions from the visits and results of the analyses showed that the existing Croatian WWT system could be optimised and this would require upgrading of facilities. Upgrading was considered to be dependent on the availability of financial resources, as well as the capacity of on-site expertise for managing the upgraded WWT plants.