History

The history of wastewater treatment in Kaiserslautern

1885 - Combined sewers

  • Implementation of the combined sewer project. The city of Kaiserslautern bought the spring ‘Lauterquelle’ in order to guarantee water supply.

1888 – Central water supply

  • Beginning of the construction of a central water supply system and orderly discharge of wastewaters.
  • For these purposes the main sewers followed the natural watercourses. The amount of rainwater uptake was considered in the dimensions. The town’s population at that time was approx.37,000.

1905 – First sewage treatment plant

  • Built at the end of the town below Neumühle.
  • A meander-like sedimentation basin of 2,700 m3 capacity was contructed to retain all sediments.

1945 – Planning and design

  • First efficient sewage plant planned and designed at the current location.

1949 – Primary treatment

  • Construction of modern primary treatment facility.

1957 – Biological sewage treatment

  • First biological treatment stage.

1964 – Primary and biological treatment

  • Operation of complete primary and biological treatment.

1967 – Sludge dewatering

  • Modern sludge dewatering added to wastewater treatment process.

1972 – Digestion tank

  • Retrofitting of new digestion tanks with a larger volume (2 x 4,000 m³) for sludge stabilization (disinfection).

1975 – Three polishing ponds

  • Three polishing ponds, making up a total volume of 70,000 m³, were provided downstream of the sewage plant to further improve the discharge quality.

1976 – Sewage treatment

  • The monitoring of the industry became more and more the focus of own sewage treatment activities.

1978 – Excess sludge thickening

  • The first mechanical centrifuge-operated sludge thickening facility was built.
  • Thus, the amount of excess sludge reduced drastically. The digestion tanks could be used more effectively.

1989 – Start-up of third treatment stage

  • Alkaline precipitants reduced the phosphate content to the legally required level of 1 mg phosphate per litre of water. Cascades for the purpose of nitrification and de-nitrification were provided to modify the ‚Biological clarification 2’. The optimum use of the clarification gas made it possible to build a combined heat and power station. The produced electrical power and waste heat were used to supply the buildings and run the digestion tanks.

1992 – Combined heat and power station

  • A second combined heat and power station was built by the city.

1993 to 1996 – Biological treatment 3

  • Start of the ‘Biological purification 3’ project with nitrogen elimination being the main purpose. At the same time a new operational and administrative building was built, accommodating all departments of Stadtentwässerung.

September 1996 - Inauguration

  • Formal opening of the sewage plant provided with three treatment stages.

1998 to 1999 – Better maintenance

  • The modernization of the primary treatment stage became focus of the local wastewater treatment activities. By building an accessible pipe and installation tunnel the maintenance of the entire sewage plant was improved considerably. In addition a distributed control system for a centralized control of the sewage plant and its external stations was installed.

2000 – New grit chambers

  • Commissioning of a new grit tank and modified primary clarifiers

2002 – New screening building

  • Commissioning of new screening building.

January 2001

  • Connection of Otterberg and Schopp (VG KL-Süd).

July 2001

  • Connection of Otterbach (VG Otterbach).

July 2003

  • Connection of Krickenbach (VG KL-Süd).

October 2004

  • Connection of Sambach and Katzweiler (VG Otterbach).

March 2006 – New sludge dewatering facility

  • The new sludge dewatering facility at the sewage works completes the current modernization.

2008 – Remodeling ventilation System

2012 – Conversion central control station with new process control system

2013 – Renewal of the Combined heat and power station in container construction

2015 – Installation of turbo compressors

2016 – "Energy neutral sewage Treatment Plant Kaiserslautern" award