Ein Vergleich von zentralen und dezentralen Lösungen zur Abwasserentsorgung im ländlichen Raum

摘要

"Today, decentralised sewage disposal plants are increasingly accepted as permanent solutionin rural areas. However, it is still debated in which cases they are more appropriate thancentral systems. The following paper deals with technological and institutional aspects of thisproblem. It poses the questions, which problems will arise if decentralised systems gainground, which solutions may be necessary and how do these solutions affect the costs ofdecentralised systems? Although decentralised systems can keep up with central systems regarding costs for investment and operation as well as treatment efficiency, they still fail to meet quality standards in everyday life. To achieve a better compliance, technological as well asinstitutional approaches seem to be necessary. First, technologies of treatment plants, processcontrol and maintenance should be optimized. Second, governmental controlling institutionsmust be adjusted. On the one hand, this is due to the increasing number of autonomousstakeholders involved. On the other hand, this is caused by the public good character of wastewater treatment once it exceeds the basic needs of households. Thus, easy riding ofhouseholds occurs. Better controlling institutions may not only minimise easy riding but alsofoster technological progress. Together, technological progress as well as new controllinginstitutions will influence private and social costs of decentralised systems and thus theirrange of use." (author's abstract)