Helping Gladsaxe Municipality in Denmark reduce hazardous pollutants in wastewater

We helped Denmark’s Gladsaxe Municipality identify the main hazardous substances and discharges in wastewater, which needed to be regulated and reduced.

Located just north of Copenhagen, Gladsaxe Municipality was long ago considered a wastewater pollution and heavy metal hotspot. In order to take steps to reduce the amount of pollutants in the wastewater, Gladsaxe Municipality first had to figure out the sources. To do this, we implemented monitoring programmes in the municipality’s three major industrial areas: Gladsaxe, Bagsværd and Mørkhøj Erhvervskvarter.

For Gladsaxe Erhvervskvarter, we compared the measurements with those we took in a sewer junction receiving wastewater from the whole industrial area in 1996 (the baseline). Measurements we took from 2006-2008 showed that the load of heavy metals had dropped significantly to below the standards for discharge to sewers.

In Bagsværd Erhvervskvarter, we took measurements in 2001 for the same substances as those detected in Gladsaxe Erhvervskvarter. We later conducted a monitoring programme in Bagsværd Erhvervskvarter in 2009 to identify changes in the load of harmful substance in the wastewater.

For the Mørkhøj industrial area, we recommended implementing a measurement programme based on the same parameters as the programme in Bagsværd Erhvervskvarter in 2009.

Based on the results of our monitoring programmes, Gladsaxe Municipality has been able to identify the most important sources of the pollutants in the wastewater. This has enabled them to impose regulations on industries in the major industrial areas. Since the monitoring programme and subsequent regulations were introduced, Gladsaxe Municipality has seen:

• a continuous decrease in the pollution load measured in a sewer junction receiving wastewater from the industrial area
• an improvement in the quality of wastewater discharged to the sewer system and treated at the municipal wastewater treatment plant
• improvement in the water in the environment