Durrës is an economic driver of Albania with strong industrial, tourism, and agricultural activity. It is also the second-largest city in the country and its primary port, with a continuously urbanised corridor between Durrës and Tirana. The Metropolitan area of Durrës, covering five municipalities and ten communes, has a total population of about 350,000 people during the off-peak seasons.
The city’s wastewater collection system is obsolete, made of concrete pipelines prone to infiltration and flow disruption with the lack of proper sloping, thus often being subject to blockages. The majority of the sewerage collection systems have been combined to collect wastewater together with rainwater.
The continuous efforts of Durrës Water and Sewerage Utility (DWSU), since 2010, have resulted in a surge in the collection and treatment of wastewater from domestic, commercial, public, and industrial customers: from 18,550 m3/day of wastewater effluent treated in 2013 to 28,160 m3/day in 2018.
However, Durrës wastewater collection networks are yet to be developed and restructured to bring Durrës Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) up to its design capacity of 60,000 m3 /day (or 250,000 p.e.). To support these efforts, WBIF has allocated a technical assistance grant for the preparation of the Feasibility Study (FS), Environmental Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Preliminary Design (PD).
