More than 16 km of sanitary sewer system and more than 1 km of storm water system accompanying the building of road surfaces will be constructed, and a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) will be upgraded in the part of sludge management (construction of additional anaerobic digester, replacement of gas tank). Additionally, improvements to the present condition of the waste activated sludge pumping station and grit chamber are planned as a part of this contract. The whole process is to improve the solids handling capacity of the WWTP as a result of predicted higher future flows once the sewers will be constructed and commissioned.

In many Polish towns and villages supplying water, collecting and treating municipal waste are still major problems. The necessity of taking actions directed at organising the sewage and water management results, among others, from the obligation to bring the Polish reality up to requirements of the environmental protection law. According to the regulations of Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), and Poland's duty ensuing from Poland's accession to EU, Poland is to achieve the ecological condition of water required in the regulations of law by 2015. It will be possible owing to implementation of the State Environmental Policy and the National Development Plan, in which an assumption is made that by 2015 all municipalities with more than 2000RLM will have WWTPs built and water-sewage infrastructure developed. Owing to EU's financial aid, several sections of water-wastewater infrastructure in many Polish towns and villages have been designed and upgraded in the last few years.

In August 2004 the construction phase of the project "Economic development of the Nowy Sacz region by constructing the communal infrastructure" began and in November 2004 a contract was signed to implement its second part, i.e. to upgrade the municipal WWTP. The whole contract is divided into several tasks implemented in three different parts of the town of Nowy Sacz, in Nawojowa municipality bordering with Nowy Sacz from the south and at the site of WWTP. The project is carried out according to the FIDIC requirements, i.e. following the contract procedures financed from the general budget of European Communities. The most important duties of the Contract Engineer involve the investor supervision over the construction activities, preformed in compliance with the Act of Law "Construction Law", as well as regular reporting and preparing the work progress reports to settle the subsidies of the PHARE Fund.

Investing in the municipal infrastructure will allow connecting the suburbs of Nowy Sacz, where mostly detached houses are located, to the organised system collecting the municipal waste. Till now, the households used mostly their own septic tanks, which were, more often than not, leaking and not complying with the sanitation and environmental protection requirements. Owing to the sums invested, not only will the life standard of local people increase, but also the condition of soil and ground- and surface water in the Nowy Sacz region will significantly improve. Dunajec, one of the most beautiful rivers of Malopolska, does not comply at present with any cleanness norms for surface water in its course below the town. Signs warning against swimming in the river because of its pollution with bacteria have been placed along the river banks in the town. Once the housing estates, which have no sewage system now, are connected to the wastewater collectors and municipal WWTP, the amount of waste released to Dunajec in its course through Nowy Sacz will significantly decrease.

The end of investment is planned for November 2005.

ARCADIS' services:

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• Project Management
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• Financial and cost control
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