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Hospital Wastewaters pp 153–169Cite as

Lessons Learned from European Experiences and Presentation of Case Studies

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 60))

Abstract

The present work aims to give an overview about the current state of adopted treatment trains for hospital wastewater in the European countries. Hospital effluent is considered as a point source of micropollutants such as pharmaceutical residues (antibiotics in particular) and anti-resistant bacteria in a municipal sewer system with the surface water as ending point.

The changes in the legislation (i.e. WFD, EU 2015/495) forced researchers, administrators and stakeholders to debate about possible technical solutions to implement. Starting with studies on fate and pathways of pharmaceuticals compounds and their metabolites, the European scientific community assessed removal of micropollutants in conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems and their possible upgrade with tertiary treatments. The solution was then compared with decentralized one at point source according to different methodologies such Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA). These considerations drove to the implementation of different solutions according to policy decisions of the individual countries. Switzerland is the first European country that cast in the necessity of a post-treatment step in national legislative mould. In other European countries, such as Germany, reduction measures of pharmaceutical loads are decided on regional level.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Water Management Group, Université du Luxembourg, Campus Kirchberg, 6, rue Coudenhove-Kalergi, L-1359, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Silvia Venditti

  2. NIVUS GmbH, Im Taele 2, 75031, Eppingen, Germany

    Kai Klepiszewski

  3. Chemical Pollution Control and Impact Assessment research group, Department of Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41, rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg

    Christian Köhler

Authors
  1. Silvia Venditti
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  2. Kai Klepiszewski
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  3. Christian Köhler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvia Venditti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara , Ferrara, Italy

    Paola Verlicchi

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Venditti, S., Klepiszewski, K., Köhler, C. (2017). Lessons Learned from European Experiences and Presentation of Case Studies. In: Verlicchi, P. (eds) Hospital Wastewaters. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 60. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2017_16

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