Sustainability of Municipal Wastewater Treatment

The European Parliament had adopted legislative resolution of 10 April 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning urban wastewater treatment. The reduction of pollution in discharged treated wastewater in the parameters of BOD5, total ni-trogen and total phosphorus was emphasized. Based on these results, it stated that the impacts on the quality of lakes, rivers and seas in the EU are visible and tangible. At the same time, it was emphasized that the sector of urban wastewater removal and treatment is responsible for 0.8% of the total electricity consumption and about 0.86% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the entire EU. Almost a third of these emissions could be prevented by improving the treatment process, better use of sewage sludge and increasing energy efficiency, as well as a higher rate of use of renewable resource technologies. It is also necessary to better integrate treatment processes into the circular economy. Sludge management and water reuse is sub-optimal as too many valuable resources are still being wasted. This review article is focused on sustainable municipal wastewater treatment, innovative and new wastewater treatment processes and technologies (combined and hybrid processes, Anammox, etc. and their use in practice with the aim of increasing environmental and energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint. The research is focused on the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of energy processing of sludge, reuse of nitrogen and phosphorus, sludge and reuse of treated wastewater.