BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

Uwe Schell, Ministery of Nature and Environment, Kiel
Experiences with the implementation of HF.LCOM
Recommendations in Schleswig-Holstein
When, in 1988, the Helsinki Commission first called for
the expansion of sewage treatment works, the aim being the
removal of nutrients from wastewater, the sewage system
and wastewater treatment were already of a high standard
in Schleswig-Holstein and many other parts of the Federal
Republic of Germany. Almost 85% of the population were
connected to sewage treatment works and all were designed
for biological wastewater treatment, i.e. about 85% BOD
reduction. A few inland treatment plants which discharged
directly into lakes were fitted with equipment for
phosphorus removal by chemical precipitation. One
treatment works was even designed to remove nitrogen, but
it did not work well. A good infrastructure was therefore
already in place when, in 1984 and 1987 for the North sea
and in February 1988 for the Baltic Sea, the decision was
made to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen inputs by 50%.
Ministerial declarations at international conferences
would not have been sufficient, however, to speed up
expansion programmes for sewage treatment plants. Instead,
what was needed was a radical change in public opinion,
and not just urgent reports by scientists or experts in
the administration. The breakthrough in forming political
and public opinion came with the mass occurrence af algal
blooms and the deaths of seals in the North Sea and the
Baltic Sea in the spring of 1988. For the first time,
politicians and the public took an interest in the health
of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. As a result of the
ensuing discussion, a readiness grew to do something to
improve the environment. Widespread public support is the
one prerequisite for the improvement of wastewater
treatment; the other is to gain the same backing for the
necessary financial package.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, the costs for
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