Historical overview of the Copenhagen sewerage system

The Copenhagen sewerage system was established in 1857. Thus, in 2007 we celebrate our 150 th anniversary. Previous to the establishment there were some years of discussion of the principle – combined vs. separate sewer network. Most of the sewer network we know today was founded 1860-1910. Until 1892 the contents of latrines were still collected and driven to the country for fertilization. The rest of the sewage was lead to the harbour, causing extreme odours and sedimentation of sludge. In the time the water closets were allowed to lead the wastewater to the sewer network, the sewage was collected in new pipes along the harbours, and only during rain there were spills from CSO. In the harbour, public baths were established, but because of the poorer and poorer water quality, the last bath closed in 1952. In the 1990s, a SCADA system was established and real time control introduced. Since then, RTC is an integrated part of managing the sewer network. In the same period, some major projects started with the aim of reducing the CSOs and large storage volumes were established. This resulted in the establishment of a public bath in 2002 followed by yet another in 2003.