Benchmarking of Large Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants Greater Than 100,000 PE in Austria

The Austrian benchmarking system was developed during a six-year period starting in 1999. Since 2004 it has been operated via an internet platform and more than hundred wastewater treatment plants have been investigated. The objectives of the Austrian benchmarking system are the development of performance indicators and the identification of best performance and cost reduction potentials. In a three step procedure comprising data acquisition, data processing and organized exchange of experience the financial and technical data is processed. Real costs are linked to four defined main processes and two support processes. For each process the operating costs are attributed to six cost elements. The paper shows the benchmarking results of six Austrian plants with a design capacity > 100,000 PE representing approximately 30 % of the Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant capacity.