Analiza rozwoju infrastruktury ściekowej w Polsce w aspekcie ekologicznym i ekonomicznym

The article presents the changes which have taken place in sewage management in Poland since 1990. The amount of industrial and municipal sewage which needed treatment was observed to have declined from 4.11 km3 down to 2.50 km3 in a year. The changes in wastewater structure were analysed with respect to the degree and methods of treatment. The amount of untreated wastewater was reported to have decreased considerably from 33% to 6.6%. That resulted from the construction of new sewage treatment plants, particularly municipal ones whose number rose from 588 up to 3191. Individual household sewage treatment plants became a new trend in wastewater management (over 57 thousand plants were constructed in the years 1994-2012). Financial outlays directed to sewage management and their structure were presented. The rising role of foreign subsidies whose share in total costs increased from some to over 30% in the years 2000-2012. The final part of the article indicates that despite considerable financial outlays and improvements in surface water quality there is still a relatively big inflow of polluted rivers into the Baltic Sea. In general, the load of nitrogen (from 100 to 200 thousand tons a year) remains at the same level as 20 years ago. This proves that the problem of water pollution with biogenic substances in rural areas is still unsolved. These substances are currently the main “sources” of the inflow of biogenes into river and lake waters, and consequently to the Baltic Sea.