February 2013: Implementing decentralized wastewater treatment plants can help to address sanitation concerns, particularly in rural and mountainous areas, according to a study by the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE).

GWP highlights the special water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) challenges encountered by rural, small and widely dispersed villages, which are home to over 40 million people in the CEE region. Rural populations often use groundwater for drinking, which frequently becomes polluted, resulting in health concerns, especially among children.

Financing for sewage and wastewater treatment plans represents an additional challenge because local municipalities often cannot afford to cover the co-funding requirements for such systems. Nature-based decentralized treatment systems represent “a promising solution for the region,” according to Igor Bodik, GWP CEE Sustainable Sanitation Task Force leader. He explains that such systems use plants as soil filters. GWP also recommends awareness rising activities to facilitate support for decentralized systems and overcome obstacles to permits for decentralized systems.

These GWP recommendations draw upon an August 2012 report titled “Natural Processes of Wastewater Treatment: Actual status in CEE countries.” The report presents the findings of a survey that asked GWP CEE sanitation experts from Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine questions related to: wastewater management; natural treatment systems in individual countries; legal and policy aspects of natural treatment systems; and in-country challenges, such as education, financing and planning that affect natural treatment systems.

GWP was founded in 1996 by the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to foster integrated water resources management (IWRM). [GWP Press Release] [Publication: Natural Processes of Wastewater Treatment: Actual Status in CEE Countries]