Wastewater treatment plant in Sztum RE: NEW

At the end of 2024, the Water Supply and Sewage Company in Sztum announced an open tender for the reconstruction and expansion of the municipal mechanical and biological wastewater treatment plant.

On 2 September 2025, we signed a contract valued at PLN 71.78 million. NEWATER sp. z o.o. is the General Contractor of this investment project in consortium with the general construction company MAS-BUS from Wrocław.

Once the work is complete, Sztum will proudly boast of the second wastewater treatment plant of this size in the country, which uses MBR (membrane) technology, considered to be the so-called fourth stage of treatment.

“We have been waiting for this contract to be signed and we are enthusiastic about this project, especially as membrane technology will be implemented on a large scale here. With this technology, water can be treated to a degree that is incomparably better than in the traditional wastewater treatment model based on mechanical and biological treatment. MBR enables the removal of microplastic particles, pharmaceuticals and the vast majority of harmful bacteria and viruses from wastewater. In Sztum, MBR (membrane filtration of activated sludge) will consist of two parallel lines, each with an average capacity of 1,650 m³/day. Overall, the average capacity of the facility after modernisation will reach 5,500 m³/day, with a maximum capacity of 6,200 m³/day. The wastewater treatment plant will receive an average of 165 m³/h and a maximum of 413 m³/h of wastewater per hour,” says Robert Malik, CEO of NEWATER.

The resulting microbiological purity of the treated wastewater makes it eligible to be called water again. Such water poses absolutely no threat to aquatic ecosystems. After treatment, these waters then flow into water corridors and catchment areas covered by the Natura 2000 programme and the Nogat/Vistula Valley Protected Landscape Area.

“Despite the modernisation carried out in 2019–2022, the existing wastewater treatment plant may not comply with environmental requirements in the future due to its long period of operation. Plans for a new facility were drawn up in the previous decade, following a failure that occurred in spring 2017. The project, referred to as reconstruction and extension of the treatment plant, actually involves the construction of a completely new facility with very high treatment efficiency. It will be a thoroughly modern facility, providing a guarantee of ecological safety for Parlety Lake and Kaniewskie Lake. The whole project will be constructed on land owned by the Water Supply and Sewage Company in Sztum, which means that it will not require time-consuming agreements between the contractor and the landowners,” explains Sławomir Kłopotowski, president of PWIK Sztum.

Bartosz Mazerski, Mayor of Sztum Town and Municipality, does not deny his contentment: “Preparations for the construction of the new treatment plant had already been initiated by my predecessor. Halfway through 2024, thanks to a well-prepared application by PWIK Sztum, we have been granted subsidies from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW) in the amount of almost PLN 51 million. This is a long-awaited investment project in our municipality. I am therefore glad that we have signed the contract today, and in two years’ time Sztum will have the most modern sewage treatment plant in the Pomeranian region. Hopefully, this will attract new investors to Sztum, for whom the possibility of transferring their industrial sewage safely to the municipal treatment plant will prove to be the key factor for a business decision in our favour. It is an opportunity for development and economic growth”.  

The existing wastewater treatment plant had its last modernisation in 1997, which is 28 years ago. According to contractual provisions, the work should be completed by the end of September 2027.