Huge project of sewage treatment plant renovation

Created: 05/10/2022Updated: 05/10/2022 17:13

By: Sandra Sedlmaier

The sewage treatment plant in Starnberg will have to be renovated from the ground up in the coming years.

The aerial view shows the facility in 2016, when the new administration building was built on the site.

©Michael Rudy

The sewage association Starnberger See has had good experiences with its own staff for sewer inspection and maintenance.

The refurbishment of the sewage treatment plant is a big financial burden for the association.

Pöcking – The Lake Starnberg Wastewater Association is on the right track.

This message was conveyed by Managing Director Dr.

Stephanie Rapp-Fiegle to the association councils at the most recent meeting in Pöckinger Beccult.

She announced innovations and reported on upcoming projects.

The 2022 budget was also approved at the association meeting.

Citizens from the communities around Lake Starnberg will get to feel the innovations with the next mail from the association.

"Soon there will be two notices in one envelope," announced Rapp-Fiegle.

“It is planned that in future we will only send out one notification for the waste water and rainwater charges.” The two areas are currently being treated separately.

Wastewater treatment plant in Starnberg was last renovated in 2000

One of the upcoming projects is the rehabilitation of the sewage treatment plant in Starnberg.

It was last renovated in 2000, and experience has shown that major repairs are due every 25 years.

There was a foretaste of upcoming repairs in the summer of last year: Chief Financial Officer Ludwig Raab reported almost 45,000 euros in excess of expenditure due to damage to the sludge centrifuge gearbox.

"Otherwise the costs for the sewage sludge treatment would have been spot on," he reported.

Rapp-Fiegle announced that they would like to see which new technologies are needed for the upcoming renovation of the sewage treatment plant.

"For example, to reduce energy consumption." During the refurbishment in 2000, a decision was made in favor of a cheaper sewage treatment plant and higher energy consumption, recalled association chairman Rainer Schnitzler.

"Now the energy is all the more valuable," he said and once again expressed his regret that the district office had not approved a photovoltaic system on the roofs of the association's administration building in Starnberg.

"We could have produced many millions of kilowatt hours." He expects a clear double-digit million amount for the renovation.

Positive balance: "I'm happy about that in view of the raw material prices"

In addition to the sewage treatment plant in Starnberg, the sewage association Starnberger See maintains a sewer network over 600 kilometers long and around 100 pumping stations.

He takes care of the sewage of 61 000 citizens around the lake.

For the 2022 budget, CFO Ludwig Raab envisages income of 13 million euros from the wastewater fee and 2.1 million euros from the rainwater fee.

Both fees were increased at the beginning of the year to EUR 3.60 per cubic meter and EUR 1.12 per square meter of sealed area.

Costs are incurred, among other things, for the maintenance and repair of the sewage treatment plant, for electricity, advice and processes, for the renewal of the sewer sections, especially in Tutzing, Mörlbach and Starnberg.

6.5 million euros are estimated for personnel costs.

In 2021, for the first time in years, no new loans were required,

debt of almost ten million euros is planned for 2022.

Likewise in the coming years, also because of the renovation of the sewage treatment plant.

"The waste water association must work to cover its costs and not to make a profit," emphasized Raab.

The fees are calculated in such a way that they exactly cover the expenses.

"We close 2022 with a positive balance of 325,000 euros," he said.

“In view of the raw material prices and the uncertainty, I am happy.

We even still have air in it.”

"We close 2022 with a positive balance of 325,000 euros," he said.

“In view of the raw material prices and the uncertainty, I am happy.

We even still have air in it.”

"We close 2022 with a positive balance of 325,000 euros," he said.

“In view of the raw material prices and the uncertainty, I am happy.

We even still have air in it.” 

Overall, Rapp-Fiegle announced that the association would concentrate on its core competencies of sewage disposal and purification.

"I'm also trying to raise cost awareness among employees," she said.

At the same time, digitization and restructuring are being pushed ahead.

"Then substitutions are easier."

The sewer renovation and the foreign water problem will keep the association busy, said the head of the association.

She reported on the preparatory work in Mörlbach, where her own device was used for the first time to check the property connections for leaks.

"It went very well." As reported, the wastewater association decided to use its own equipment and employees instead of hiring external companies.

Another major project: Creation of a sewage sludge concept

This was confirmed by Margot Große, who is responsible for the sewer and property connection investigation at the association.

"Your performance is better with your own people." External companies often rejected some of the work or didn't do it.

"Oddly enough, their own people can do it."

Another major project that the association has to tackle is the creation of a sewage sludge concept.

Its disposal is becoming more and more expensive and difficult.

"We have to present a concept in 2023," said Rapp-Fiegle.

It must be implemented by 2030.