Hungarian Wastewater Treatment Plant Adds Green Roof

The wastewater treatment plant in the Csepel precinct of Budapest, Hungary, which is being built within the Living Danube project for the health of the river, is now protected by a high-performance green roof that uses the properties of DuPont Typar geosynthetic to deliver long-term reliable functionality.

Living Danube is a European Union co-funded project with a budget of approximately €500 million. Its goal is to achieve a general recovery and environmentally sustainable management of the Danube River. One of the project’s goals is an up-to-95% increase in the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the Danube from the agglomeration of Budapest. The wastewater treatment plant on the northern part of Csepel island was refurbished and updated to help meet this goal.

The Living Danube project emphasizes environmentally friendly, sustainable building and construction. Therefore, the flat 10,000-sq-meter roof of the wastewater treatment plant building is designed as a green vegetation surface. Green roofs absorb airborne dust and similar impurities, drown noise and retain up to 90% of water, preventing rainwater from draining into sewers.

Green roofs feature many other benefits. They provide protection to roof structures and insulation layers against temperature fluctuations and UV radiation, which can significantly increase their lifetime. Roof vegetation consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.

The Csepel plant roof is designed as a green flat inversion roof. Over 78,000 sq meters of DuPont Typar SF geosynthetic was specified for this project. The product was supplied by RW Bautech Hungary Kft.

Two layers of DuPont Typar were laid for filtration and separation functions. DuPont Typar acts as a water-permeable layer between the soil and hydro accumulation layers, preventing water from penetrating into lower layers. The structure prevents Typar from becoming clogged with fine soil particles, and provides a long-lasting filtration performance. The material does not soak up water and thus cannot freeze, eliminating a number of technical problems.

Source: Environmental Expert