Krafla Volcano is located in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland next to Mývatn lake. The surrounding landscape is dominated by volcanic landforms and craters. The lake was created by a large lava eruption back 2300 years ago.
This popular Icelandic touristic destination is facing a significant increase in the volume of visitors for the past few years. Indeed, tourists coming to Iceland have almost tripled since 2000, powered partly by a “Game of Thrones Effect” that has seen fans of the series visiting its shooting locations but also by the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
The lack of facilities (toilets and fresh water access) for visitors to the Krafla Volcano has been an issue for quite some time, which was solved with the installation of toilets next to the main access to the Volcano. The next step for the local environmental agency was to work out a viable solution to treat the wastewater produced by the new equipment in this remote location out of any electricity supply.
The main challenge of this project was the strong visitor’s fluctuation throughout the year varying from only a few visitors per day during the winter season to possibly a hundred per day over a busy summer month. Hence the onsite wastewater treatment system serving the new visitors facilities needed to be able to cope with this seasonality in activity. Another challenge was the stringent local environmental regulation and especially the effluent quality required to protect the nature beauty of this very sensitive area.
The BIOROCK small onsite wastewater treatment system was selected as the best solution for this type of application, combining non-electrical operation, low maintenance and ability to be left “unchecked” during visitor’s absence periods. With high quality recycled effluent becoming an asset, BIOROCK reaches the authorities requirements to protect the nearby lake’s water purity. Another project to be proud of for BIOROCK!
*Update 2019*
4 years after installation, sampling of the system installed at Krafla Volcano gives following results:
Suspended Solids: 3.8 mg/L
COD: 22.2 mg/L
BoD5: 2 mg/L
P Tot: 1.8 mg/L (after final polishing)
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