OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2011. St. Petersburg has completed the international project Clean Baltic Sea. Since June 28, 2011 the city has been fully fulfilling the new recommendations of the Helsinki Commission for protection of the Baltic Sea – the amount of phosphorus in the city’s total treated effluent does not exceed 0.5 mg/l.

The Clean Baltic Sea project was initiated in 2005. It was aimed at introducing up-to-date technologies of advanced phosphorus removal from wastewater at the largest wastewater treatment plants of St. Petersburg: Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, South-West Wastewater Treatment Plant and Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Project unified the efforts of the Government of St. Petersburg, SUE “Vodokanal of St. Petersburg”, John Nurminen Foundation (Finland), Finnish Ministry of the Environment and Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The last stage of the Project was commissioning of the stationary automated chemical dosing unit for phosphorus removal at the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant on June 28, 2011. Earlier such units had been put into operation at the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant and South-West Wastewater Treatment Plant. They provide stable high-quality phosphorus removal from wastewater.

Phosphorus refers to the so-called nutrients. The high level of nutrients in the Baltic Sea accounts for the process of eutrophication, one of its manifestations being a rapid bloom of blue-green algae. It is phosphorus which stimulates the growth of blue-green algae. The Baltic Sea bloom and the silting of its shores render it unfit for bathing and rest. Eutrophication process leads to the death of many a sea dweller posing a threat to the future of the unique eco-system of the Baltic Sea.