The era of Lithuania and its outdoor toilets is coming to an end

 The plan for the creation of a welfare state in Lithuania:

 

1. Destroy outdoor toilets.

 

2. Destroy asbestos roofs.

 

3. Make billions of artillery shells.

 

4. Fly to the Moon, away from all this nonsense.

 

 

    "In Lithuania, outdoor toilets are still used not only by the residents of homesteads, garden associations or single-yard households, but also by the people living in the center of the capital. Unpleasant smell or their maintenance are not the only problems of outdoor booths - they pollute groundwater and the environment, and are harmful to health.

 

      The goal of the European Union, which is also pursued by Lithuania, is that more than 2 thousand in populated settlements, wastewater would be managed centrally. The goal, according to experts, has almost been achieved, and outdoor toilets are gradually being replaced by more environmentally friendly alternatives.

 

     It will be controlled more strictly

 

     In homesteads or houses where there are no water and sewage treatment systems, residents still pour sewage into leaky, often farm-style pits, which become breeding grounds for bacteria, and more and more household chemical residues are found in the sewage: various cleaners, detergents, disinfectants. Chemical substances released into the environment contaminate the soil and groundwater. Leaky pits pollute groundwater and the wells fed by it, pose a risk of contaminating groundwater, which is the main source of drinking water in Lithuania, the press release states.

 

     There are still cases when wastewater is illegally discharged into the environment: some of those who do so justify that they do not have the funds to handle the wastewater in accordance with the requirements. Some simply don't want to invest, or their homes don't have access to centralized wastewater treatment networks, so they choose environmentally unfriendly methods.

 

     As Kastytis Gedminas, advisor of the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment, commented, the main goal of the Wastewater Management Information System (NTIS) created by the Ministry of the Environment, which started operating on January 1, is to ensure that untreated sewage does not enter the environment.

 

     "By using the data collected by this system, individual wastewater management systems will be controlled more efficiently. Environmentalists will be able to rely on the accumulated information, and responsible companies will also be able to see risky places in the information system and take preventive measures in time to control potential sources of pollution. It will be easier to prevent cases where illegal sewage transporters or private individuals discharge sewage in non-designated areas or into a nearby water body. There will also be an opportunity to control whether wastewater is properly cleaned in the facilities", explained K. Gedminas.

 

     From now on, owners of individual houses who have installed biological treatment and septic tank types of individual wastewater treatment facilities should not forget to conduct an examination of the wastewater released into the environment once a year, which will confirm whether the purified water released into the environment meets the standards and does not pollute the environment.

 

     The solution in the homestead and on the construction site

 

     Diana Lubė, director of the territory maintenance business of the environmental management company "Ecoservice", reminds that if there is no possibility of centralized sewage treatment or the installation of local sewage treatment plants, it is too expensive, and there is a far more environmentally friendly alternative than polluting outdoor booths - bio-toilets, suitable for use in summer houses, country houses or gardens. in communities where people go on vacation or rest on weekends.

 

     During the construction or repair of a residential building, there are usually no amenities in the building temporarily, so residents performing construction or repair work can also choose an environmentally and health-friendly solution during this period - bio-toilets.

 

     "People's awareness is growing, they are interested in and choose more environmentally friendly alternatives, and untidy outdoor booths or sewage-polluted environments are no longer tolerated," said D. Lubė.

 

     A bio-toilet corresponds to the concept of a movable object and is not a building, therefore, when building it on a small plot or in densely populated areas, the distance to the boundary of the plot is not regulated, it is not necessary to observe protection zones from sources of drinking water and wells.

 

     If necessary, along with the bio-toilet, you can additionally use cubic water containers, and in the warm season, outdoor sinks. Depending on the needs of the residents, but not less often than every four weeks, bio-toilets are cleaned with high-pressure equipment and special chemical means, residents do not need to take care of the maintenance of the bio-toilet themselves.

 

     Lithuania implemented the EU requirements

 

     One of the most important measures aimed at protecting the environment from the harmful effects of discharged wastewater is the European Union Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. It provides that at least 98 percent wastewater generated in settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants would be collected by centralized wastewater collection systems.

 

     In 2017, the European Commission informed Lithuania, that in 58 settlements too few households were connected to the centralized sewage system, but in the last few years the requirement of the directive was implemented in 48 settlements. Currently, the requirements of this directive no longer apply to Kybartai, Eišiškės, Ariogala and Šeduva, because they have less than 2 thousand inhabitants. people.

 

     Out of the remaining 6 settlements, in four - Nemenčinė, Pabradė, Švenčionės and Švenčionėliai - the development projects of centralized sewage collection systems are currently completed - until the end of 2024, residents' housing is planned to be connected to them.

 

     Ensures centralized sewage supply

 

     Whether it will be possible to manage sewage centrally depends not only on the wishes of the residents. Some of the capital's residents faced a situation where, after the construction of several dozen individual houses, there were challenges in connecting them to the sewage management infrastructure, as a sewage pumping station is needed, costing approximately 150,000 euros. How do you solve similar problems?

 

     K. Gedminas, advisor of the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment, commented that it is the responsibility of municipalities to ensure the availability of drinking water supply and wastewater services to residents, while the responsibility of the public drinking water supplier and wastewater manager is to ensure the development of infrastructure and the connection of consumer devices to the drinking water supply and wastewater management networks."