Optimization of wastewater treatment or water reuse in industrial parks may require separate collection of wastewater types. The approach allows for discharge in a common gravity sewer system. Separation is accomplished by discharging the wastewater types sequentially over time.

In order to optimize wastewater treatment and / or water reuse in industrial parks, separate collection of different wastewater types (e.g. organically and inorganically polluted wastewater) can be useful. Up to now, corresponding concepts have been implemented (especially against the background of increased requirements for the monitoring of industrial dischargers) by the principle of "one production company, one pipeline". However, this requires a lot of space on pipeline routes and is thus limited in terms of industrial park size or the number of production companies that can be connected. As a possible alternative, an approach was developed in which the discharge is possible in a gravity sewer system common to all production companies. Separation is achieved by discharging the different types of wastewater in sequence. Wastewater generated during production is first temporarily stored locally, providing continuous drainage for the production companies. Storage facilities can be built either for individual productions or for several neighboring productions together. The operation of the storage tanks and the sewer network (discharge control) is carried out centrally by an operator, e.g. the operator of the central wastewater treatment plant of the industrial park. By installing online measurement technology and automatic samplers, discharge monitoring can be carried out at the production companies as required. In the inlet to the central wastewater treatment plant, control devices are used to distribute the wastewater types to the respective equalization tanks and treatment lines. The approach described in the WaReIp project is suitable for boundary conditions under which it is not possible to lay a large number of pipes, e.g. where there is a lack of space on pipeline routes or constraining points such as the crossing of a watercourse with problems relating to approval legislation.