By 2015 at the latest, the construction of the Andermatt Swiss Alps tourism resort, planned skiing infrastructure expansion and the intensive building activity in the adjacent Urserental would have resulted in a shortfall in the capacity of the existing wastewater treatment plant in Andermatt. Therefore, Abwasser Uri, the organisation responsible for wastewater treatment in the canton, put a contract out to tender for the enlargement of the plant on a package basis.
The concept from WABAG Water Technology, Winterthur was selected as the best and most cost-efficient solution and on 9 September a contract was signed that will involve an investment of around €8m. The complex project, which is to be completed under challenging circumstances, will be concluded by the end of 2013.
An innovative concept for a complex project
The background to the enlargement of the Andermatt wastewater treatment plant presents a demanding picture. Limited space in combination with an extension of the existing building, the required housing of the plant due to the climatic conditions at a height of 1,400m and the need to prevent noise and malodorous emissions, seasonal load fluctuations derived from tourism and stringent discharge conditions all represent major challenges. However, in response WABAG has designed an innovative and extremely compact concept tailored to precisely meet these requirements.
The basis for this concept is formed by three in-company developed processes with pre-treatment being provided by a new fine sieving process, WABAG’s latest technological innovation. This advanced fine sieving process removes virtually all coarse substances from the wastewater and thus eases the burdens on the subsequent biological treatment step, while also simultaneously reducing the required biological tank volume.
For the biological step, the WABAG experts selected the flexible FLUOPUR® moving bed process, which can best counteract seasonal load fluctuations and is also characterised by low energy consumption and thus a considerable reduction in operating costs.
Finally, WABAG deep bed filtration is employed as tertiary treatment step, in order to guarantee the statutory conditions regarding the discharge of the cleaned wastewater into the River Reuss.
A turnkey plant
WABAG is to supply Abwasser Uri with a turnkey, state-of-the-art plant. Work will commence in spring 2012 and the enlarged wastewater treatment plant with additional capacity of 6,000-8,000 p.e. will be ready for operations at the end of 2013.
A specialist for difficult assignments
Another current example of an especially challenging project in the wastewater treatment field is the contract for the enlargement of the Zermatt plant at the foot of the Matterhorn. Here, too, WABAG Winterthur was able to win over the client through the use of sophisticated technologies under demanding circumstances. A modern membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant is to be realised in a cavern in order to ensure the treatment of all the wastewater from this highly popular tourism region in an environment-friendly manner.
The technology leader in Switzerland
With the Andermatt contract, WABAG Water Technology has once again provided evidence of its technological leadership in Switzerland. As a progressive company, WABAG is constantly developing innovative solutions to the advantage of its customers and has used these technologies as the basis for a large number of tailor-made projects. Ongoing investments in new technologies pay dividends, not only in terms of customer benefits and the environment, but also confidence in the WABAG brand.
