The occurrence and fate of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in the aquatic environment has been recognized as one of the emerging issues in environmental chemistry. In some investigations carried out in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the U.S., more than 80 compounds, pharmaceuticals and several drug metabolites, have been detected in the aquatic environment. Several PhACs from various prescription classes have been found at concentrations up to the µg/l-level in sewage influent and effluent samples and also in several surface waters located downstream from municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs). The studies show that some PhACs originating from human therapy are not eliminated completely in the municipal STPs and are, thus, discharged as contaminants into the receiving waters. Under recharge conditions, polar PhACs such as clofibric acid, carbamazepine, primidone or iodinated contrast agents can leach through the subsoil and have also been detected in several groundwater samples in Germany. Positive findings of PhACs have, however, also been reported in groundwater contaminated by landfill leachates or manufacturing residues. To date, only in a few cases PhACs have also been detected at trace-levels in drinking water samples.

The present report characterizes the field sites Lake Tegel and Lake Wannsee as well as the artificial recharge site GWA Tegel in terms of their clogging layer, sedimentary, hydraulic and hydrochemical properties. As a result, a solid basis for the interpretation of specific compounds evaluated within NASRI and for subsequent modeling and quantification of the data is given. Major problems or difficulties where identified, in order to focus investigations on aspects not fully understood to date in the next project phase. The combination of different tracers enables the interpretation of the flow regime. With the help of T/He analysis, ages of different water bodies can be estimated. The analysis of tracer showing distinct seasonal variations is used to estimate travel times while water constituents which are either mainly present in the bank filtrate or the background water are used for mixing calculations. The proportions of treated wastewater in the surface water were estimated in front of the transects. The surface water composition varies largely both in time and space, which is a problem at Wannsee, where the surface water sampling point is not representative for the bank filtration input. Estimates for travel times of the bank filtrate to individual observation and production wells are given and vary between days and several months. The production wells are a mixture of bank filtrate and water from inland of the wells and deeper aquifers, proportions of bank filtrate are given where possible to differentiate between contaminant removal and dilution. They vary between < 20 and > 80 %. The new observation wells enable a vertical differentiation of the infiltrate. It becomes clear that at Tegel and Wannsee, there is a strong vertical succession towards larger proportions of considerably older bank filtrate with depth. At the Wannsee transect, the observation wells deeper than the lake do not reflect the surface water signal at all. It will be important to combine the new information with hydraulic information of existing flow models (mainly of the IGB “model” group). The evaluation of the redox conditions shows that redox successions proceed with depth rather than (only) in flow direction. In addition, the redox zoning (as characterised by the appearance or disappearance of redox sensitive species) is very transient. The zones are much wider in winter than in summer, in particular at the artificial recharge site GWA Tegel, probably due to temperature effects. This poses a challenge for the desired modelling and the interpretation of data from redoxsensitive substances.

The complete utilization of the capacities of a complex sewage system, consisting of networks, storage and control assets, pressurized network and waste water treatment plants, especially for storm weather events is a central task to minimize the pollutant load discharged to receiving waters. With the objective of a minimization of water pollution load within the urban area of Berlin the project “Integrated Sewage Management” has been launched in 2000. The central points of this project are the application of integrated simulation tools for the examination of different management scenarios followed by the definition and installation of an integrated operation concept for the system. Special attention is turned to the combined sewage system where sewer overflows represent a potential risk for river pollution. Real time control of local regulators and thereby the activation of additional storage capacity within the network can lead to an optimization of the overall system. The paper is focusing on the methodology of model building to examine the sewage system and its operation management including geometric setup, measurement campaigns, calibration and validation. Moreover, the application of the model to evaluate the use of a mobile weir within the sewerage and its real time control is stated.

The European Water Framework Directive of 1991, which aim is to limit the discharge of urban rainwater, constrains the cities to improve their sewerage system in order to face such events. The combined sewer overflows are a very sensitive theme in Berlin because of the city’s drink water supply system. The Integrated Sewage Management project, materialized within the Berlin Water Competence Center, aims to optimize the network thanks to hydraulic and pollution modelling. The first step of this study is to model a pilot catchment’s area, thanks to the Hydroworks DM software. Beyond the network constitution, a measurement campaign is realized to calibrate the model, for hydraulic as well as for pollution processes. This has to be done for both dry and rain weather. A first calibration is made possible by the results of dry weather measurements. The analysis of rain weather measurements will allow the validation of the model to be done, and its transposition to the other Berlin catchment’s areas.