Workshop on “Decentralised Sewage Treatment Technology” in Chengdu

From 4th to 7th April 2018, the workshop on “Decentralised Sewage Treatment Technology” was held between the two WATCH members, including the China Water Environment Group (CWEG) and the Institute of Testing & Developing Sewage Treatment Technology at RWTH Aachen University (PIA), in Chengdu, China. The department manager assistant of CWEG, Dr. Lili Gan, introduced the present situation and relevant regulations of decentralised sewage treatment in China. Dr. Dorgeloh, the director of PIA, gave a speech about the European certification for decentralised wastewater treatment plants. Mrs. Dr. Defrain, the head of the Water Reuse Department of PIA, presented the US certification system for sewage treatment and reuse plants, as well as the PIA testing base introducing the NSF International certification system.

The two sides had a detailed discussion about the cooperation in building China’s testing and evaluation platform for decentralised sewage treatment technology. After fruitful discussions, Dr. Feng Hou, the chairman of CWEG, and Dr. Dorgeloh signed a memorandum of understanding for this cooperation. This will introduce a variety of standards of decentralised sewage treatment technologies from Europe, the United States, and Japan. This platform will be capable of testing on Chinese and international standards. Consequently, it will promote the evaluation methods and the establishment of quality standards of decentralised sewage treatment technologies in China jointly.

During their visit in China, the German delegation visited the CWEG projects in Guang’an city, including the underground sewage treatment plant, the rural decentralised sewage treatment stations, and the ecological restoration project of Xiaoping-Ink-Wash lake. The German delegation spoke highly of the technology of the treatment systems. On the basis of the rich experience of PIA and the technical and management abilities of CWEG, the two sides will work together to build China"s platform for testing and evaluating decentralised sewage treatment technologies, which will be a model of world-class research centers. Finally, Dr. Yao, ISA of RWTH Aachen University and scientific coordinator of WATCH, gave a report on sludge disposal in Germany addressed to the scientific staff of CWEG.