Decommissioning of the old Nicosia WWTP and construction of a septage acceptance station

Decommissioning of the Old Nicosia WWTP & Construction of a Septage Acceptance Station

Project Title	Decommissioning of the old Nicosia WWTP and construction of a septage acceptance station
Overall Objective	To enable the decommissioning of the old NWWTP and to enable the acceptance of septage at the new NWWTP.
Output	Increased capacities for the adequate treatment of septic wastewater from the Nicosia wider region.
Location	Mia Milia / Haspolat – Nicosia, Cyprus
Type of investment	Construction Works (Technical Infrastructure)
Description of investment	Construction of embankments in existing lagoons to reduce their size allowing the decommissioning of lagoons built on private property and installation of a fence around the boundaries of the land plot owned by the Sewerage Board of Nicosia. The size of the existing facultative lagoons will be reduced by 44% compared to the current size of the lagoons. Construction of a new septage acceptance station to allow easy discharge of household septage to the new NWWTP. It will have four discharge points, four reception tanks and one large buffer tank. A pumping system will then pump the discharge septage to the new NWWTP.
Intended beneficiary	Direct beneficiaries: Decommissioning – Sewerage Board of Nicosia (SBN) Septage acceptance station - 6,250 persons per day Indirect beneficiaries: Turkish Cypriot community and Greek Cypriot community of Nicosia
Scope of works	Currently, the old Nicosia WWTP is being used by the Turkish Cypriot local community of Nicosia for the acceptance and treatment of household and industrial waste. Additionally, it also receives around 10,000 m3 of treated effluents daily from the new Nicosia WWTP to keep the facultative lagoons active for the treatment of the discharged household and industrial waste. The volume of water required is around 350,000 m3. This poses an issue as part of the land used by the facultative lagoons belongs to private owners that have asked for their land to be returned. While the treatment of industrial waste will be addressed in another location, the treatment of household septage remains an issue. Initially, the household septage was to be discharged in the new Nicosia WWTP. Unfortunately, the acceptance capacity doesn’t match the needs and since the completion of the new NWWTP, only a very limited number of septage trucks used it at the beginning. A new discharge station needs to be built to allow the proper discharge of household septage. With industrial and household septage being addressed, the facultative lagoons can be decommissioned. But given the importance of the facultative lagoons as an eco-system, it has been decided to keep the ones within the boundaries of the land owned by SBN active. Embankments will be built to separate the parts on SBN land from the ones on private property. The decommissioning will allow the natural drying of the private land plots.
Actions taken by UNDP	Feasibility study Completed in 2018 but complemented by two studies conducted in 2020 (process engineering and CAPEX/OPEX). Property checks Completed Designs Completed in July 2023 Procurement Completed Implementation of Works Contract signed: 01 August 2024 Commencement date: 16 September 2024 Expected completion date: 16 April 2025 Status by 11 January 2025: 85% Completed Additional works: permanent electrical connection, replacement of treated effluent discharge pipe, valve gates.