Institut für Evolution und Ökologie
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Improvement of wastewater treatment technology

 

Tübingen Wastewater Treatment Plant

In the joint project "Wastewater Treatment Plant Tübingen", which is funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Baden-Württemberg and the City of Tübingen, the success of the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant Tübingen with ozonation as a 4th treatment stage for the ecosystem of the Neckar is investigated.

detailed project description

SchussenAktivplus

The project SchussenAktivplus focuses on technologies capable to reduce the release of micropollutants and potentially pathogenic bacteria into surface waters via sewage treatment plants of different size and via rain overflow basins of different types. As a model river in a highly populated catchment area, the river Schussen and, as a control, the river Argen, two tributaries of Lake Constance, are under investigation in this project. The efficiency of different cleaning technologies will be monitored by a wide range of exposure and effect analyses including chemical and microbiological techniques as well as effect studies ranging from molecules to communities.

detailed project description

Key publications:
  • Triebskorn R, Bláha L, Gallert C, Giebner S, Hetzenauer H, Köhler H-R, Kuch B, Lüddeke F, Oehlmann J, Peschke K, Sacher F, Scheurer S, Schwarz S, Thellmann P, Wurm K, Wilhelm S (2019): Freshwater ecosystems profit from activated carbon-based wastewater treatment across various levels of biological organisation in a short timeframe. Environmental Sciences Europe 31: 85.
    Online available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-019-0267-0
     
  • Peschke K, Capowiez Y, Köhler H-R, Wurm K, Triebskorn R (2019): Impact of a wastewater treatment plant upgrade on amphipods and other macroinvertebrates: Individual and community responses. Front. Environ. Sci. 7: 64.
    Online available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00064
     
  • Wilhelm S, Jacob S, Ziegler M, Köhler H-R, Triebskorn R (2018): Influence of different wastewater treatment technologies on genotoxicity and dioxin-like toxicity in effluent-exposed fish. Environmental Sciences Europe 30: 25
    Online available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-018-0154-0
     
  • Triebskorn R (Hrsg., 2017): Weitergehende Abwasserreinigung. ISBN 978-3-946552-11-6
    Online available at: hdl.handle.net/10900/74316
     
  • Thellmann P, Greiner-Perth K, Jacob S, Knoll M, Schäfer M, Stängle M, Ziegler M, Scheurer M, Köhler H-R, Triebskorn R (2017): Does Waste Water Treatment Plant Upgrading with Powdered Activated Carbon Result in Reduced Water and Sediment Toxicity of the Receiving Stream? Int Water Wastewater Teat 3(2).
    Online available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.16966/2381-5299.141
     
  • Wilhelm S, Henneberg A, Köhler H-R, Rault M, Richter D, Scheurer M, Suchail S, Triebskorn R (2017): Does wastewater treatment plant upgrading with activated carbon result in an improvement of fish health? Aquatic Toxicology 192: 184-197.
    Online available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2017.09.017

 

SchussenAktiv

Within the framework of the projet SchussenAktiv, the efficiency of the upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant (wastewater treatment plant Langwiese, near Ravensburg, Southern Germany) with a powdered activated carbon step will be investigated regarding ecotoxicological effects in aquatic organisms in the connected river Schussen. The combination of biological effect studies and chemical analyzes in a temporal (prior to and after the upgrade of the wastewater treatment) and spatial (sampling sites up- and downstream of the wastewater treatment plant) gradient will link cause and effect in exposed organisms, and the success of the wastewater treatment plant upgrade will be monitored and documented.

detailed project description

Key publications:
  • Maier D, Blaha L, Giesy J P, Henneberg A, Köhler H-R, Kuch B, Osterauer R, Peschke K, Richter D, Scheurer M, Triebskorn R (2015): Biological Plausibility as a Tool to Associate Analytical Data for Micropollutants and Effect Potentials in Wastewater, Surface Water, and Sediment with Effects in Fishes. Water Research 72: 127-144.
    Online available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.08.050
     
  • Peschke K, Geburzi J, Köhler H-R, Wurm K, Triebskorn R (2014): Invertebrates as indicators for chemical stress in sewage-influenced stream systems: Toxic and endocrine effects in gammarids and reactions at the community level in two tributaries of Lake Constance, Schussen and Argen. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 106: 115-125.
    Online available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2014.04.011
     
  • Henneberg A, Bender K, Blaha L, Giebner S, Kuch B, Köhler H-R, Maier D, Oehlmann J, Richter D, Scheurer M, Schulte-Oehlmann U, Sieratowicz A, Ziebart S, Triebskorn R (2014): Are In Vitro Methods for the Detection of Endocrine Potentials in the Aquatic Environment Predictive for In Vivo Effects? Outcomes of the Projects SchussenAktiv and SchussenAktivplus in the Lake Constance Area, Germany. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98307.
    Online available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0098307
     
  • Triebskorn R, Blaha L, Engesser B, Güde H, Henneberg A, Hetzenauer H, Köhler H-R, Krais S, Kuch B, Maier D, Oehlmann J, Peschke K, Rault M, Rey P, Richter D, Sacher F, Suchail S, Thellmann P, Weyhmüller M, Wurm K, Vogel H-J (2013): SchussenAktiv - Eine Modellstudie zur Effizienz der Reduktion der Gehalte an anthropogenen Spurenstoffen durch Aktivkohle in Kläranlagen: Expositions- und Effektmonitoring vor Inbetriebnahme der Adsorptionsstufe auf der Kläranlage Langwiese des AZV Mariatal, Ravensburg. Korrespondenz Wasserwirtschaft 8: 427-436.