Environmental protection technology for cities

Environmental protection starts by legislation in Germany with the State of the Art in Environmental Protection Technologies. While the supply of drinking water is an entrepreneurial domain, municipalities are responsible for waste water disposal. In 1998 more than 90% of German population was connected to more than 10 000 public and industrial waste water treatment plants to clean 9,6 thousand million m3 of waste water. The costs of drinking water supply and waste water treatment are discussed. There is a legal entitlement in Germany to grant permission for the construction and the operation of an industrial plant, provided that the requirements of the Federal Ambient Pollution Control Act are fulfilled. Municipalities need permission to operate waste water treatment plants and municipal solid waste disposal facilities (actual 60 municipal solid waste incineration plants with a capacity of 14 million tonnes per year, and about 400 landfill sites). Today, municipalities have to compete with private recycling companies to get enough waste materials to run their treatment plants.