Kaliningrad WWTP a major step towards a healthier Baltic Sea

Photo: Dimitrijs Alehins.

On 7 June 2017, the city of Kaliningrad in Russia inaugurated a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 150,000 cubic metres a day as part of the larger Kaliningrad Water and Environmental Services Rehabilitation investment programme co-financed by the authorities of the Russian Federation and a group of international financiers.

“Having a fully functional wastewater treatment plant in Kaliningrad is a major step towards a healthier Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, the construction of the wastewater treatment plant was severely delayed, but NIB is hailing the inauguration of the long-expected environmental improvement that will protect the marine ecosystems and further decrease the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea”, says Thomas Wrangdahl, NIB’s First Vice President, Head of Lending.

The latest pre-inauguration data provided by the plant operator, Vodokanal Kaliningrad, show that the removal of phosphorus and BOD is well in line with the HELCOM recommendations. The new wastewater treatment plant is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies to clean 150,000 cubic metres of water a day.

The new wastewater treatment plant has received grant financing from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Fund. NIB has acted as paying agent for the Sida grants. As a lender, NIB has provided financing to the Russian Federation that is earmarked for the drinking water component of the Kaliningrad Water and Environmental Services Rehabilitation investment programme. The functional, HELCOM-compliant WWTP working at its full capacity is one of the main conditions for NIB’s continued financing of the drinking water component.