Catching up with the European standards

Environmental protection became a priority issue of the Russia’s policy in 2008. On November 18 the State Kremlin Palace hosted the forth All-Russian Conference called “New priorities of the national environmental policy in real economy” where principal activities were outlined for the improvement of environmental situation in the country.

Moscow authorities conventionally give high priority to the environmental protection. MSUE Mosvodokanal arranges effective operation of water treatment facilities in the capital enhancing their barrier function and reducing the anthropogenic stress on the environment, which ensures a reliable and environment-friendly production, compliance with the rules and requirements of the environmental regulations, an integrated approach to management of natural resources.

MSUE Mosvodokanal has developed and put into implementation the Environment protection programme for 2008—2010 that provides for large-scale activities for reconstruction and retrofit of treatment facilities, water sources protection, water bodies recovery, development of impact mitigation technologies, environmental monitoring.

In order to mitigate environmental risks MSUE Mosvodokanal together with Rostechnadzor headquarters in Moscow of launches a project that is unprecedented in Russia and involves cooperation with the consumers of municipal sewage services and aimed at reducing the amount of pollutants discharged into the natural water reservoirs. Certification for compliance with international standards is of high importance, too. On June 5, 2008, the Ecologist Day, Mosvodokanal was awarded the Moscow Government Environmental Protection Award for installation of an ultraviolet water decontamination plant at the treatment facilities in Lyubertzy.

A new treatment facilities complex using the ozone water purification method is scheduled for construction at the West water treatment station in Moscow between late 2010 and early 2011, a new treatment facilities complex is also operational at the Rublyovkskaya station in where the ozone purification method is used instead of chlorination. The water supplied by the Rublyovkskaya station is consumed by approximately 2 mln Moscow citizens residing in the Western District of the capital. Using the said method removes the chlorine smell of the water. Another advantage of using the ozone is its instantaneous effect while the chlorine remains in the water while being transported via pipelines to the consumer. Moscow authorities intend to gradually give up the chlorination of water, but to do so completely at the present stage is not possible due to the condition of the pipelines.

The water drawn from the Moskva-river is first settled, then treated with chemicals (chlorine) and after that filtered using carbon filters. Then the water enters the contact tanks for saturation with ozone. The Rublyovkskaya water treatment station is equipped with ozonation plants. Ozone is injected via pipes into the water tanks to saturate the water with the gas. Ozone reacts with residual toxic contaminants resulting in their oxidization. As a result, the water supplied by the Rublyovkskaya station meets all European standards.

The amount of ozone usually varies depending on the season and the condition of the water of Moskva-river during the spring flood. Today, up to 90% of water consumed by Moscow citizens is treated using advanced purification technologies. One of the most advanced water supply enterprise at the national scale is South-Western Water Supply Station (YuZVS). The station was commissioned in December 2006. The final water purification is done at this station using membranes. This station supplies water to the western and south-western administrative districts of Moscow: Solntzevo, Novo-Peredelkino, Troparevo-Nikulino, Olimpiyskaya derebnya (Olympic village), Ramenki, where around 700 thousand people live. YuZVS is the sole major station in Russia that employs membrane filtration technology. Membranes are capable of retaining particles up to 0.01 micron in size, including viruses. The service life of membranes is five years.

The drinking water supplied by YuZVS conforms to European requirements, the project was implemented as a government and private partnership. In an open international tender Austrian-German consortium “EVN-WTE” was defined as the winner. The total investment capital amounted to 189.9 mln euro.