A Mini-Review of Urban Wastewater Treatment in Greece: History, Development and Future Challenges

Abstract

Although Greece has accomplished wastewater infrastructure construction to a large extent, as 91% of the country’s population is already connected to urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), many problems still need to be faced. These include the limited reuse of treated wastewater and of the surplus sludge (biosolids) produced, the relative higher energy consumption in the existing rather aged WWTPs infrastructure, and the proper management of failing or inadequately designed septic tank/soil absorption systems, still in use in several (mostly rural) areas, lacking sewerage systems. Moreover, the wastewater treatment sector should be examined in the general framework of sustainable environmental development; therefore, Greece’s future challenges in this sector ought to be reconsidered. Thus, the review of Greece’s urban wastewater history, even from the ancient times, up to current developments and trends, will be shortly addressed. This study also notes that the remaining challenges should be analyzed in respect to the country’s specific needs (e.g., interaction with the extensive tourism sector), as well as to the European Union’s relevant framework policies and to the respective international technological trends, aiming to consider the WWTPs not only as sites for the treatment/removal of pollutants to prevent environmental pollution, but also as industrial places where energy is efficiently used (or even produced), resources’ content can be potentially recovered and reused (e.g., nutrients, treated water, biosolids), and environmental sustainability is being practiced overall.