Lek and Lendava Municipality are building a Waste Water Treatment Plant

9. 10. 2000

Lendava, 9 October – At the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Spacial Planning and Municipality councilors, Jože Kocon, the Mayor of the Lendava Municipality, and Metod Dragonja, the President of the Lek Board of Management, laid today the foundation stone for a waste water treatment plant in Lendava. By investing in the construction of the plant for the treatment of municipal and industrial waste waters – the investment amounts to SIT1.3 billion – Lek is implementing its environmental policy and thereby an environment friendly and safe business process.

Within the range of its business operations, Lek has had a long tradition of environment protection. It is first bound by its mission statement, and later on by its responsibility towards the society and legislation. With this project Lek is proving its concern for a clean environment, and more specifically, water protection.

The beginning of the construction of the waste water treatment plant in Medvodje below the village of Čentiba is an important milestone in the two-year common project of Lek and Lendava Municipality for the construction of the system of municipal and industrial waste water collection and treatment in the entire municipal region. Within this project, Lek will build and later on also professionally manage the plant, while the Municipality will complement the construction of the sewage system and perform its management.

The financial resources for the waste water treatment plant construction will be entirely provided by Lek, the Lendava Municipality only contributing the land to this project. A joint venture “Lendava Waste Water Treatment Plant" d.o.o." will be established, which will take care of the plant’s functioning and maintenance.

The treatment technology includes all the three stages, from the mechanic stage to both biological stages to the final purification of nitrogenous and phosphoric substances.

The capacity of the treatment plant will be 45,000 units. The first construction stage with a capacity of 30,000 units will be concluded in August in 2001, with regular operations starting in March 2002.

For the Lendava Municipality and the surrounding area included in the sewage system, this project represents the final solution of municipal waters collection, drainage and treatment in conformity with the European Union standards, and for Lek this means a conclusion of the present stage of investing in production capacities, and the final solution to the waste water treatment on the Trimlini location.

When the system of collection and treatment of municipal and industrial waste waters is completed, the Municipality will solve one of the major environmental and municipal problems in conformity with the Slovene and European legislation. Unfortunately, the co-operation between the Lendava Municipality and Lek as the Slovene economy representative is more of an exception to the rule in Slovenia, but similar examples will be absolutely necessary if Slovenia wants to meet the environmental requirements upon the accession to the European Union.