At LSC Engineering Group, the Hydrology Department of Luxplan has been working on water management for years. They want to make sure we have water. This includes treating wastewater providing drinking water and taking care of our watercourses.
We talked to Thomas Biendel, who’s in charge of the Hydrology Department at Luxplan. We wanted to know more about their work on stormwater management. Luxplan is working on a project called STORMLAND with the University of Luxembourg. They want to improve how we treat stormwater.
So why is stormwater a problem for our water?
Stormwater is a problem because it carries a lot of bad things like hydrocarbons, heavy metals and microplastics. These things can hurt our watercourses. Usually stormwater flows into our rivers and streams without being treated. This is different from wastewater, which gets treated at a plant.
What happens to our water when stormwater flows into it?
The impact of stormwater on our water is not fully understood yet. It depends on the weather, the area and the type of water.. We do know that a lot of bad things from construction, industry and farming end up in our water through stormwater.
Where do all these bad things in stormwater come from?
Hydrocarbons mostly come from cars and traffic. Heavy metals come from roofs and buildings. Micropollutants come from paint, insulation and tires. There are sources so it is complicated. Rainwater is not usually polluted when it falls from the sky.. When it flows over the ground it picks up all these bad things.
What do these pollutants look like in stormwater?
People often think of oil spills in rivers.. Most of the time pollutants in stormwater are tiny and attached to dirt. They do not look like much. They can still hurt our water.
How can we make stormwater cleaner?
We cannot just send stormwater to a wastewater treatment plant because there is much of it. Old sewer systems mix. Wastewater, which can cause problems when it rains. Newer systems separate them. The stormwater still needs to be treated.
Luxplan has been working on ways to treat stormwater for over ten years.
What has Luxplan done far?
Luxplan has been working on making stormwater treatment more common. They built the sand filter for stormwater at the Grass business park. This filter uses gravity and plants to clean the water. It also looks nice. Helps the environment.
Luxplan also works with the government on highways. They build systems that store and treat stormwater. One of these systems was finished in Raemerich in 2023.
The system works by using layers of sand and gravel to filter the water. Plants are also used to help clean the water. It takes two years for the plants to grow and start working.
Here are some details about the Grass basin:
– It can handle a lot of water up to 7 meters per second.
– It has three tanks to catch dirt and debris.
– It has four sand filters that can clean a lot of water.
– It uses 2,400 meters of sand and gravel.
– The water level in the filters is one meter deep.
The Raemerich basin is smaller but more complex.
How well does the system work?
The system uses filters to clean the water. It can remove 90% of the bad things from the stormwater.
Luxplan is working with the University of Luxembourg on a project to test the system and make it better. They will monitor the water. See how well the system works. They want to make sure the treated water is clean enough to reuse.
The project will last for three years. We should see some results by 2025.
Luxplan wants to use the treated stormwater for things like farming and industry. This could be very helpful, during droughts.
