Potential of riverbank filtration for Austria

Duration:
2024 - 2026

Financing:

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management

https://www.bml.gv.at/, opens an external URL in a new window

Contact Person:
Norbert Kreuzinger

Co-worker:
Heidi Schaar, Kilian Deinhammer, Liad Weisz

Brief information on the project

At times of increasing droughts due to climate change and falling groundwater levels, the project deals with the utilisation of riverbank filtrate as an alternative source of raw water for urban settlements along large streams. Compared to the use of groundwater, however, the use of riverbank filtrate poses special challenges in terms of pollution. In particular, the removal of organic trace compounds and the newly focussed substance group of PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances) as well as their recently implemented legal regulation represent a challenge for process engineering. 

The project will provide the engineering basis for a multi-barrier system consisting of pre-ozonation, rapid filtration, activated carbon filtration and the demand-driven use of (superfine) powdered activated carbon as required for planning and operational implementation. It thus forms a basis for strategic future projects to secure the quantitative supply.

In this context, the following general project objectives can be summarised:

  • Estimation of the quantitative potential for the extraction of riverbank filtrate along large streams with a focus on large supply units or trans-regional suppliers.
  • Definition of different scenarios for the raw water quality in the riverbank filtrate as a result of surface water dynamics (e.g. due to flood events, seasonal fluctuations or different geology of the catchment areas).
  • Characterisation of the procedural resilience of the multi-barrier system to a change in raw water quality with regard to operation and performance.
  • Quantification of the removal of organic trace compounds in the course of a treatment chain for relevant tracer substances with a focus on PFAS.
  • Establishing an engineering basis for the planning and operational implementation and for the communication of specific process information.
  • Determination of the basis for a monitoring and control concept for the multi-barrier system.