*Article* **An Approach to Analysing Water Consumers' Acceptance of Risk-Reduction Costs**

#### **Barbara Tchórzewska-Cie´slak 1, Katarzyna Pietrucha-Urbanik 1,\* and Emilia Kuliczkowska <sup>2</sup>**


Received: 18 August 2020; Accepted: 4 November 2020; Published: 6 November 2020

**Abstract:** The proper operation of a water supply system (WSS) requires constant investment. The priority is to provide residents with high quality potable water, in the required quantity and pressure, in accordance with the applicable regulations. The paper presents an assessment of the potential inherent operational risk of a WSS in support of the risk-based investment management process. It is of high importance to invest in the operational safety as it concerns both producers and consumers. The investment engenders additional costs that should partially be supported by the consumers. Thus, the paper presents a methodology to analyse consumers' readiness to accept water supply services' additional costs. The proposed methods may underpin a comprehensive program for risk-based investment management and operational decision-making. The case study and the approach in this article concern one particular regional WSS, based on information collected from water consumers. The assessment suggests a willingness to tolerate additional costs in view of enhancing the performance of the water supply services.

**Keywords:** water supply system; risk analysis; risk management; safety of water supply

#### **1. Introduction**

A global water supply safety system represents a collection of organisations, institutions, technical systems, educational, and control measures, whose aim is to ensure the safety of those who consume water. A safety management system tends to be introduced at the local level [1,2], and in today's world typically, or even necessarily, embraces risk management [3]. In the context of a water supply company, this is a multi-stage procedure that aims at improving system security, especially regarding the supply of drinking water in both its quantitative and qualitative aspects [4]. Key aspects here are risk analysis, risk assessment, and decision-making regarding acceptability and temporary control [5,6].

At the outset, it is necessary to recall how risk derives from a lack of knowledge of events that may occur in the human environment as a process operator [7,8]. On that basis, today's active risk management entails the identification and analysis of the causes of risk, limiting losses, and building a strategy of success. The effects to be achieved are risk control and risk reduction to tolerable levels [9,10].

In the case of water distribution systems, the most important factors are production, logistics, and research and development [11]. Where these are integrated, risk management can be coordinated [12]. The risk associated with the production and distribution of drinking water relates in particular to the likelihood of adverse events and the extent of possible damage [13]. During the phase in which water is produced, risk can be assigned to either strategic or operational categories [14]. Strategic production risk is long-term, relating to the investment decisions water supply companies take, not least regarding the quality of the water source as conceived broadly (activities in compliance with provisions on zones for the protection of intakes) [15]. Operational production risk, in turn, refers to current disruptions in the production and distribution of water, and is of a short-term nature [16,17].

Logistic risk is determined in the planning phase of water supply operations, and relates to its management methods [18,19]. The purpose of logistic protection in crisis situations (e.g., flood or drought) is to ensure appropriate organisation and operational effectiveness within the framework of crisis response, in a manner adequate to the level of the threat. In the Polish case specifically, this should be in accordance with the country's Crisis Management Act. The most important logistical safeguards limiting risk include, among other things [20–22]:


Risk management should be treated as a process inseparable from the management of the entire water supply company, as related to the development of risk response methods, i.e., the preparation of organisational infrastructure in support of risk management [23]. Risk identification is based on the selection of representative emergency events that may occur during system operation, including initiating events capable of inducing a so-called domino effect [24]. Risk assessment is then a process of qualitative and quantitative analysis using methods adequate to a given type of risk and determining the criterion value for the adopted risk scale. Risk scale may be a three-level scale distinguishing tolerated, controlled, and unacceptable risk, or a five-level one in which the risk area is additionally distinguished as neglected and absolutely unacceptable [25]. Risk control and reduction involves the implementation of procedures as well as the registration and evaluation of the results of changes [26]. This helps the company to define its policy and implies a process for the implementation of measures in order to obtain an acceptable risk level at an acceptable cost [27,28]. In the literature, the following indicators can be used to analyse risk-reduction costs [29,30]:

• Assumed cost of preventing undesirable events, the so-called ICAF—Implied Cost of Averting a Fatality:

$$\text{ICAF} = \Delta \text{Cost} / \Delta \text{r} \tag{1}$$

where ΔCost is the cost of protection, or the prevention of undesirable events; Δr is the degree of risk reduction.

$$
\Delta \mathbf{r} = \mathbf{r}\_{\mathrm{P}} - \mathbf{r}\_{\mathrm{k}\prime} \tag{2}
$$

where rp is the initial value of risk and rk is the risk value following the introduction of additional protective and preventative actions.

• An indicator called the Cost of Unit Risk Reduction—CURR:

$$\text{CURR} = \frac{\Delta \text{Cost} - \Delta \text{EB}}{\Delta \text{r}} \,\tag{3}$$

where ΔEB are Economic Benefits—profit related to risk reduction.

A water supply company's priority is to ensure the continuity of drinking water supply of adequate quality. Ageing water distribution systems and growing quality requirements demand large financial outlays. Consequently, this impacts on the cost of water supply services. The process of communicating with water consumers, and of marketing and information activities, represents an integral aspect of the management of a water supply company, including its risk management. The approach presented here gives a view to a water supply company in the context of management and informs consumers about the functioning of water utilities. Water-supply companies are obliged to analyse risk, to develop water safety plans, and thus, to pursue modernisation and risk reduction. Given recent epidemiological threats related to COVID-19, additional procedures are in place, and should also gain the acceptance of consumers. All these activities have an impact on the price of water in the context of risk reduction and increasing levels of safety. Therefore, consumers have to be informed of company pricing politics. In line with the approach presented here, there is a clear indication as to whether the means of informing, communicating with, and explaining to consumers are appropriate, and why these costs are incurred. Company managers should assess the acceptability of their modernisation actions to reduce risk and the corresponding cost by the consumers.

#### **2. Criteria for Risk Acceptance as an Element of Risk Management**

Risk assessment in the context of a WSS consists of risk analysis and risk evaluation [31,32]. The former should also assess the functional limitations of individual WSS subsystems [33]. More generally, the results of the risk analysis represent input into risk evaluation, whose purpose is to decide whether risks are within tolerable limits, or whether there should be reduction via [34]:


Figure 1 presents detailed risk management procedures for a water supply company.

The definition of risk-acceptability criteria should primarily take account of aspects related to the safety of water consumers, and technical or technical/economic analysis. Such criteria are used for decisions that are made on running the system (e.g., regarding renovation, modernisation, and authorisation for use). According to [35], a system can be considered safe if the level of risk generated during its operation does not exceed certain limits.

In situations where criteria regarding acceptable risk have not yet been established, the risk value at the given moment can be considered a measure of safety [36]. This is the basis to determine the criteria that offer a value of tolerated risk. The risk acceptability level and risk-assessment methods are often subject to legal regulations regarding specific technical systems [37–39], e.g., transport-related or industrial. Given that, the more exigent the risk-acceptance criteria are, the more extensive the security and protection measures are [40–42]. Risk-acceptability criteria are then an important element to a water supply company's financial policy [43].

Determination of criterion values in risk assessment denotes the application of the so-called As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) principle, the assumption being that the level of risk should be seen in this way, with the "reasonably" aspect implying justification of an economic and technical nature. The ALARP principle was first introduced in the United Kingdom. Accordingly, it was considered as an unacceptable value for risk of death: for individual employees (r = 0.001) and for the population (r = 0.0001). The ALARP principle assumes that the entire risk range is divided into three areas:


**Figure 1.** Risk management procedures in a water supply company.

Figure 2 proposes criteria values for the individual risks faced by water consumers, with reference to the ALARP concept.

**Figure 2.** Proposed criteria for the accepted risk to water consumers.

The risk-reduction process should include a cost–benefit analysis. The level of risk to be determined is that at which the costs of further reduction are disproportionately high in relation to potential benefits. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines introduce the concept of the statistical cost of avoiding fatalities, which, in accordance with the given guidelines, is estimated at around GBP (British Pound Sterling) 1 million.

#### **3. Materials and Methods**

#### *3.1. Materials*

The distinguished water supply system is located in Poland's Podkarpacie Province. The supplied city is on the right bank of the Vistula in the southeastern part of the country, covers a total area of 130 km2, and lies at 50◦02 01" N 22◦00 17" E. In 2019, the city had an urbanisation rate of 1546 inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup> and is at between 197 and 384 m a.s.l.

The city is supplied with water from the river using a bank chamber water intake with a capacity of 84,000 m3/d. Water is treated in two modernised Water Treatment Plants and meets the quality requirements for water intended for human consumption. In total, about 190,000 residents of the city and nearby towns are using the distinguished water supply system currently. In 2019, the average daily production of treated water was approx. 34,600 m3/day, with customers' demand for water met fully in this capacity.

The research was carried out in relation to the assessment of water supply services by water consumers (Table 1), which were used to determine the quality indicators. The conducted tests form an element of regional studies and are preliminary partial tests used to estimate the assessments included in the assumed indicator. The selection of a representative random sample was assumed according to guidelines presented in [35]. The research was conducted on a sample of 200 people (of legal age over the age of 18), prepared in line with recommendations contained in the literature. Statistical analysis was performed with the Statsoft software, version 12 [44]. The highest reliability of the questionnaire occurred with ten questions. The further elimination of questions does not improve the result, but worsens it, so it is the optimal set of questions for the formulated set of 10 questions. None of the people who completed the questionnaire were excluded. Reliability statistics showed that the Cronbach alpha value has a high reliability (consistency) for the questionnaire. Differences concerning mean values for variables were tested with the Student *t*-test, and for proportions, the Z test was applied. In order to evaluate the equality of distributions, a Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was performed. A *p*-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. No statistically significant differences between gender and age group were observed.


**Table 1.** Point weights for individual Acceptable Risk Index (ARI) parameters.

#### *3.2. Assumptions Underpinning the Method Analysing Consumers' Acceptance of Risk-Reduction Costs*

As the risk-reduction process requires financial investment, an impact on the price of drinking water is exerted and should be accepted by water consumers. The level of acceptance for a water company's expenditure related to risk management depends on various factors, such as: a quality-of-life indicator, the awareness of water consumers regarding the risks arising from lack of risk management procedures, and the degree of confidence in the water supply company. Experts in the sector of water supply system management tested, adjusted, and validated a survey through a pilot study. The question was selected in such a way as to gather information about quality of services related to the use of public water supply systems, in particular, reliable and safe access to drinking water

(in accordance with applicable regulations). An important element in this respect is also the subjective assessment of water consumers, their sense of safety, and their trust in the water supply company as to the quality of services provided, which translates directly into the acceptance of actions (including acceptance of the water price) undertaken by the water utility (e.g., modernization, renovation, etc.)

The use of so-called Acceptance Risk Index (ARI) achieves an evaluation of the level of acceptance by water consumers of the costs incurred by a supply company, as it implements risk management methods [35].

The Acceptance Risk Index can be described as a function of subjective assessments related to the assessment by consumers (users) of the functioning of a water supply company:

$$\rm{ARI}\_{\rm{ijk}} = \rm{Q\_i} \times \rm{P\_j} \times \rm{T\_{k\nu}} \tag{4}$$

The adopted methodology proposed the following assessments included in the ARIjik:


The next stage of the procedure is to classify ARI values into individual sets that characterize the obtained values of Qi, Pj, and Tk on the adopted point weights presented in the Table 1.

The obtained values of Qi, Pj, and Tk take values from a three-point scale from 1 to 3 on the basis of the performed assessment related to the consumers' assessment [35].

The set of possible ARI values, ARI = {ARIijk}, can be represented in the form of the matrix. In this way, the data matrix MARI for the ARI indicator is as follows:

$$\mathbf{M}\_{\rm{ARI}} = \begin{bmatrix} \text{ARI}\_{111} & \text{ARI}\_{211} & \text{ARI}\_{311} \\ \text{ARI}\_{112} & \text{ARI}\_{212} & \text{ARI}\_{312} \\ \text{ARI}\_{113} & \text{ARI}\_{213} & \text{ARI}\_{313} \\ \text{ARI}\_{121} & \text{ARI}\_{221} & \text{ARI}\_{321} \\ \text{ARI}\_{122} & \text{ARI}\_{222} & \text{ARI}\_{322} \\ \text{ARI}\_{123} & \text{ARI}\_{223} & \text{ARI}\_{323} \\ \text{ARI}\_{131} & \text{ARI}\_{231} & \text{ARI}\_{331} \\ \text{ARI}\_{132} & \text{ARI}\_{232} & \text{ARI}\_{322} \\ \text{ARI}\_{133} & \text{ARI}\_{233} & \text{ARI}\_{333} \end{bmatrix} \tag{5}$$

The ARI index assumes values from 1 to 27. The classification proposed for acceptance levels has:


The assessment of the analysis is in turn as follows:


• If the ARI level is classified as low on the scale provided, this means that the costs incurred by the water supply company are not accepted by water consumers. The company should verify its action plan and make adjustments in the design phase.

#### *3.3. Results of Research*

The results of the research related to consumers' assessments of the quality of water supply services were used to determine the ARI value. The structuring of answers is as presented in Tables 2–5 [35], while the results of the research (quality assessment of water supply services) are included in Figures 3–12.

**Table 2.** Scheme of possible answers from consumers of water as regards the assessed quality of supply services regarding the parameters of ARI—degree of drinking-water quality assessment.


**Table 3.** Scheme of possible answers from consumers of water as regards the assessed quality of supply services regarding the parameters of ARI—degree of the acceptance of water prices by consumers.


**Table 4.** Scheme of possible answers from consumers of water as regards the assessed quality of supply services regarding the parameters of ARI—degree of trust of water consumers.



**Table 5.** Scheme of possible answers from consumers of water as regards the assessed quality of supply services regarding the parameters of ARI—consumer knowledge regarding the city's water supply.

**Figure 3.** Results for answers to Question 1.

**Figure 4.** Results for answers to Question 2.

**Figure 5.** Results for answers to Question 3.

**Figure 6.** Results for answers to Question 4.

**Figure 7.** Results for answers to Question 5.

**Figure 8.** Results for answers to Question 6.

**Figure 9.** Results for answers to Question 7.

**Figure 10.** Results for answers to Question 8.

**Figure 11.** Results for answers to Question 9.

**Figure 12.** Results for answers to Question 10.

Answers to Questions 1–6 were used directly to determine the ARI indicator. Questions from 7 to 10 were asked to obtain approximate information on consumer knowledge regarding the city's water supply.

The results of the research allowed the following conclusions to be drawn:


To generate the ARI water supply quality assessment index, individual assessments were estimated based on the results of a research:


The ARI was calculated in line with Formula (4) and is equal to 4.

According to the presented guidelines, this indicator is in the low range, from which it follows that water consumers in the serviced area tolerate the costs incurred by the company with respect to modernisation, protection, and repairs of the water distribution system in view of reducing the risk of failure. The analysis showed that the water supply company should pay more attention to the need to inform consumers about the existing risk and behaviour at the time of its occurrence, protection options, crisis prevention, as well as arrangements for water prices and the need to reduce water losses and save water. The results of the research contained in [45] indicate that the reliability of water supply expressed in terms of its quality and quantity is an important factor in its assessment by water consumers. Additionally, the test results contained in [46,47] indicate that the continuity of the water supply is an important factor in the assessment of water by consumers, who are willing to pay more for a reduction in the frequency and duration of interruptions in water supply. The aim of the water supply system's safe operation is to counteract against lack of water or its bad quality threatening the health of municipal water pipe users and to supervise this action using processes and information resources in the given operating conditions, in compliance with the valid law, and with economic justification [48]. However, legal regulations do not control the operation of water supply companies and conditions of receiving water with certain deficiencies [49]. Therefore, in countries where there are WSS, the proposed approach allows one to orientate on consumer opinions and to check consumer satisfaction about WSS operations. In developing waterworks, a pro-consumer attitude also requires improvement in consumer service, but the situation differs from systems, in which continuous water supply is taken for granted [50].

#### **4. Conclusions**

Society expects high standards in the sphere of social and economic life. While quality of life is a subjective and hard-to-measure concept, one standard should undoubtedly be reliable and safe access to clean water. This often denotes high costs to water supply companies as they seek to minimise the risk associated with the possibility of various adverse events in the water supply system arising.

The presented research-based method of analysing the acceptance by water consumers of the costs incurred by enterprises in risk reduction should be part of an appropriate policy that an enterprise pursues in the context of consultation with the local community. It can also constitute an important step towards ensuring the safety of water consumers and should therefore be a fundamental element in the strategy pursued by water utilities. Detailed procedures should be consulted with a wide range of experts from various fields. The costs of changes and improvements should be taken account of, but priority should always be given to providing consumers with water that is safe for their health.

An important element of accident risk management in a water supply company should be the analysis of consumer acceptance of the actions taken to reduce risk, as these influence the price of water. On this basis, water utilities can implement information management procedures.

The survey will always be subjective, as the scope of interpretation is wide. This is a proposal, and questions should be modified for each country, city, municipality, etc., in line with population size. Local governments preparing such a survey can modify and adapt it to local conditions in other ways, given that each system and community is different. Such methods can also in fact be used as other local government surveys are conducted. As various types of threats arise today, water utilities will have to introduce a range of modernisation procedures, at the same time ensuring their actions remain acceptable to the public. It is not possible to create a survey for every case. This process can be pursued based on appropriate research. The proposed method allows assessment of the level of public acceptance.

**Author Contributions:** All authors equally contributed to the development of this manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** We thank the reviewers for their feedback, which helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References and Notes**


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© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

## *Review* **Inventory of Good Practices of Sustainable and Circular Phosphorus Management in the Visegrad Group (V4)**

**Marzena Smol 1,\*, Paulina Marcinek 1,\*, Zuzana Šimková 2, Tomáš Bakalár 2, Milan Hemzal 3, Jiˇrí Jaromír Klemeš 3, Yee Van Fan 3, Kinga Lorencz 4, Eugeniusz Koda <sup>5</sup> and Anna Podlasek <sup>5</sup>**


**Abstract:** The most important raw material needed for food production is phosphorus (P), which cannot be replaced by other elements. P is listed as a Critical Raw Material (CRM) for the European Union (EU). It is an element essential for human nutrition and is used for fertiliser production. The key importance of P for human life is evidenced by the fact that if there were not enough P in fertilisers, we would only be able to feed 1/3 of the world's population. Unfortunately, in Visegrad Group (V4) countries, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary, there is a lack of mineral deposits of phosphate rock. Therefore, there is a strong need to cover the demand for the P by importing from countries of varying stability, both economic and political, such as Russia, China, or Morocco. It is risky; if the borders for deliveries of goods are closed, it may be impossible to meet the needs of P. On the other hand, V4 countries have large secondary P resources in P-rich waste, which are lost due to P is not recovered on an industrial scale. The paper presents the importance of P raw materials in V4, the revision of primary and secondary P sources that can be used in agricultural systems, as well as the structure of import and export of P raw materials in these countries. In addition, examples of good phosphorus recovery practices in the V4 countries are presented. They include a list of initiatives dedicated to the sustainable management of P resources, and examples of P recovery projects. Implementation of P recovery for internal P-rich waste in V4 could ensure the safety of food production in this region. Such and similar initiatives may contribute to faster independence of the V4 countries from the import of P raw materials.

**Keywords:** phosphorus; resources; critical raw materials; Visegrad Group; V4; sustainable management

#### **1. Introduction**

Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important nutrients needed to sustain life [1,2], with properties that cannot be replaced by any other element [3]. Moreover, P is nonrenewable [4,5]. In 2014, the European Commission (EC) indicated phosphorus rock as one of the most important critical raw materials (CRMs) for the European economy [2], and P was placed on the CRMs list [6]. Then, in 2017 and in 2020, phosphate rock and P were also included in the updated lists of CRMs [7,8].

P has no metallic properties. P is classified as flu of non-metals [9]. P is the basic nutrient responsible for the growth of all living organisms with properties that cannot be substituted [10]. Moreover, P is the third major component (after potash and nitrogen) used in industrial fertilisers. P represents a crucial element of the food security system [11].

**Citation:** Smol, M.; Marcinek, P.; Šimková, Z.; Bakalár, T.; Hemzal, M.; Klemeš, J.J.; Fan, Y.V.; Lorencz, K.; Koda, E.; Podlasek, A. Inventory of Good Practices of Sustainable and Circular Phosphorus Management in the Visegrad Group (V4). *Resources* **2023**, *12*, 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/ resources12010002

Academic Editor: Diego Copetti

Received: 15 November 2022 Revised: 12 December 2022 Accepted: 21 December 2022 Published: 30 December 2022

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

To reduce its dependence on external markets, the European Union (EU) has, in recent years, emphasised the need to look for alternative sources of P. One option is to recover this valuable raw material from selected waste streams. This approach is in line with the assumptions of the circular economy (CE), the EU economic model, which underlines that the transformation towards CE could bring significant economic and environmental benefits for the Member States, including V4. Activities in the field of recovery of raw materials, including P, are also part of the new EU strategy: the European Green Deal [12]. The initiatives for more sustainable management of P raw materials are part of the proposed Farm to Fork Strategy based on the principle of creating a fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food system [13]. The transition to more sustainable food systems has already begun [14], but with current food production methods (based only on primary raw materials), feeding a population (in which there may be a threat of disruption in the delivery of these materials, e.g., as a result of closing borders, introducing restrictions on imports from selected countries) remains a challenge. Food production continues to pollute air, water, and soil, contribute to biodiversity loss and climate change, and consume vast amounts of natural resources, while a large proportion of the food produced is wasted. Poor quality food contributes to obesity and diseases such as cancer. The farm to fork strategy will address the use of fertilisers in agriculture [13], with a strong emphasis on the recovery of nutrients from waste [15].

The specific actions for the sustainable management of biogenic raw material resources (such as phosphorus) have been undertaken for many years in various regions of the EU and in individual Member States [3]. So far, however, no analyses have been conducted on the central region of the EU, which comprises the Visegrad Group consisting of four countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia [16]. This region does not have phosphorus deposits, therefore, the demand for P raw materials (necessary for the production of fertilisers and food) is met only by imports. In the face of the threats of the 21st century, such as a pandemic, it seems reasonable to take action to ensure the safety of P raw materials in this region, as well as to intensify activities to subsidise P from available waste streams. Currently, the COVID pandemic is the greatest threat to modern economies. The V4 countries were the first in the EU to introduce restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, which proves their great responsibility to residents [17]. Citizens stayed home, and the only thing they needed to survive was food. It showed that the greatest challenge is to ensure people's safety and access to food requires the provision of raw materials for food production.

The paper presents the importance of sustainable management of P raw materials in V4 countries. Primary and secondary P sources that can be used in agricultural systems are listed; import and export are presented. In addition, examples of good P recovery practices in the V4 countries are presented. The structure of the paper is as follows:


#### **2. Materials and Methods**

This section provides a description of the materials and methods that have been used in the study. The research framework is shown in Figure 1. There are four individual phases in this research. The first phase included a description of the case study region. The second phase included an overview of possible sources of P raw materials in V4 countries coming from primary and secondary sources. The third phase contained an overview of good examples of sustainable management of P raw materials in all V4 countries. The last phase covered conclusions from the study and recommendations for further research.

**Figure 1.** Scheme of the research framework.

In all phases of the work, a comprehensive analysis (desk research) of selected documents was used as a research method. The review covered numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles directly related to the subject of the flow of P raw materials in the V4 countries. The selection of the analysed literature was based on the following keywords: "phosphorus", "resources", "critical raw materials", "CRMs", "Visegrad Group", "V4", "sustainable management", "Czech Republic", "Hungary", "Poland", "Slovakia", "sewage sludge", "sewage sludge ash". The reviewed publications were searched on scientific platforms such as Elsevier Scopus and ScienceDirect, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), and Google Scholar. An important source of data was also a statistic published by Eurostat (the official statistic of the EU).

The initial results of this review were presented in the document "Portfolio of Phosphorus Friends in Europe", which was developed as part of the project "How to stay alive in V4? Phosphorus Friends Club builds V4's resilience (PhosV4)", financed by the Visegrad Fund (project no. 22110364). In this document, project partners contained information about the importance of P raw materials in securing the supply of food in V4 countries, the use of P raw materials in the food sector, and P raw materials flow in V4 countries. It is worth noticing that the identification of P recovery potential and good practices of P recovery in V4 countries is a research gap for which detailed data are not available at the moment. Therefore, it is an interesting research area that should be developed and studied. All results were discussed by project partners during the consortium meetings, and further directions for research were jointly designed.

#### **3. Results**

#### *3.1. Case Study Region*

The case study region in this paper is the V4 group, which contains the following four countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The number of residents in this region it is above 63 M in 2022, with the higher number in Poland (37,654,247 people), followed by the Czech Republic (10,516,707 people), Hungary (9,689,010 people), and Slovakia (5,434,712 people) (Figure 2) [18].

Over the 11 years, the EU population has grown by around 6,887,000 citizens. Population growth occurred in Slovakia (by 43,000 in 2022 compared to 2011) and in the Czech Republic (population increase of 30,000 people). On the other hand, a decrease in the number of respondents took place in Poland (409,000 people less in 2022 compared to 2011) and in Hungary (a decrease in the population of 297,000 people in the analysed period).

The area of the EU countries currently covers 4,215,000 km<sup>2</sup> , 5.2% of which is occupied by the V4 countries. Poland is the largest country belonging to the group of V4 countries, with an area of 312,700 km<sup>2</sup> . Next is Hungary, with an area of 93,000 km2, the Czech Republic at 78,900 km<sup>2</sup> , and Slovakia, at 49,000 km2 , is the country in the region with the smallest area [19].

**Figure 2.** Residents in V4 [18].

The changes in population over 11 years (2011–2022) in the V4 countries is presented in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Population in V4 (in thousand) (data from [18]).

#### *3.2. Primary and Secondary P Raw Materials in V4 Countries*

In the EU, P resources are limited, which means that most of the P in the EU is imported. The EU imports around 6 million mg of natural phosphate annually and around 1.2 million mg of P fertilisers from Russia, Morocco, and Tunisia [20]. EC presents 100% as the reliance percentage on P imports and 84% as the reliance percentage on phosphate rock [8]. The structure of global producers and main EU sourcing countries of phosphate rock is presented in Figure 3.

0DLQ(8VRXUFLQJFRXQWULHVRISKRVSKRUXVURFN

0DLQJOREDOSURGXFHUVRISKRVSKRUXVURFN

&KLQD 0RURFFR 8QLWHG6WDWHV 5XVVLD )LQODQG 2WKHUV

**Figure 3.** Structure of global producers and main EU sourcing countries of phosphate rock, data from [21].

Based on the available data, there are no P deposits mined in V4 countries at present. In Poland, there are phosphorite deposits that were mined in the past. P occurs at the northeastern margin of the Holy Cross Mts. (vicinities of Radom-Iłza-Annopol-Go´ ˙ scieradów-Modliborzyce) in the form of calcium phosphate-rich nodules in the various types of sediment [22]. The exploitation of phosphate phosphorites began in the country between

the First and the Second World Wars. Currently, due to economic aspects, no deposits are exploited. The last exploited phosphorite deposit, located in Chałupki, was closed in 1961, and 10 years later, the same was also done in Annopol [23]. The limit values of the parameters that describe the phosphorites deposit in Poland define that [22]:


Qualitative parameters of the main phosphorites occurrences in Poland are presented in Table 2.


**Table 2.** Quality parameters of documented phosphate deposits (data from [23]).

The index describing the abundance largely deviates from the boundary values of the parameters that define the deposit. Deposits are flooded, which results in their potential exploitation. In addition, railway lines and high-voltage lines, roads or buildings were built in their areas through significant parts of the deposits. In extreme cases, it may cause the resources available for exploitations reduction as much as 50–80%.

All deposits from which phosphate rock was obtained in Poland were removed from the national resource balance in 2006. Currently, the domestic demand for phosphate rock raw materials is fully covered by imports, e.g., from Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, where the availability of the described raw materials is much greater and more economical [22]. The phosphate rock import quantity to Poland during the last 18 years is presented in Figure 4. The largest amount of the P was imported in 2004, and the lowest amount in 2009, which is directly related to the global economic crisis that occurred in 2008.

**Figure 4.** Phosphate rock import quantity to Poland, data from [24].

**Figure 5.** Phosphate rock import quantity to Slovakia, data from [24].

In the Czech Republic, there are no P deposits. The domestic demand for phosphate rock raw materials is fully covered by imports. The phosphate rock import quantity to the Czech Republic during the last 18 years is presented in Figure 6. The largest amount of the P was imported in 2008, and the lowest amount was in 2012.

**Figure 6.** Quantity of imported phosphate rocks in the Czech Republic, data from [24].

In Slovakia, there is one deposit of phosphate; however, it also is not mined at the moment. The demand for phosphate raw materials is fully covered by imports. The phosphate rock import quantity to Slovakia during the last 18 years is presented in Figure 5. The highest amount of P raw materials was imported to Slovakia from Italy (68%) and the Czech Republic (31%). There is also limited import from Germany (0.2%), the United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, and other countries (<0.1%) [25,26].

In Hungary, there are five sedimentary phosphate deposits, but there is no information available on what phosphorus contents there are and whether they will ever be used. The phosphate rock import quantity to Hungary during the available 10 years is presented in Figure 7. The largest amount of the P was imported in 2020, and the lowest amount was in 2014.

**Figure 7.** Quantity of imported phosphate rocks in Hungary, data from [24].

The vital importance of P and its growing deficiency influenced the dynamic development of science in the area of P recovery from different waste materials [27]. In V4 countries, there is high potential for the recovery of P from secondary sources such as:


The P contents in selected waste streams are shown in Table 3, which includes values of P concentration in sewage sludge, ashes from sewage sludge, animal manure, and compost from plant waste.

**Table 3.** P concentration in presented types of waste [mg/kg].


Currently, household waste containing large amounts of P (mainly sewage sludge) could cover around 20–30% of the demand for phosphate fertilisers in the EU when recycled. However, this investment potential is still largely untapped in European countries [48],

despite the fact that such an approach is in line with the assumptions of CE, in which waste generated should be treated as secondary raw materials. In V4 countries, municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have the greatest potential for P recovery because P can theoretically be recovered at every stage of the treatment process, i.e., from sewage and leachates in the liquid phase, from dehydrated sewage sludge, from the solid phase of ashes after thermal transformation of municipal sewage sludge. In the successive stages of wastewater treatment and sewage sludge treatment, a smaller volume of the substrate used for P recovery is observed, while at the same time P concentration per unit volume is increasing [49]. The efficiency of P recovery from different substrates at WWTPs is equal to [50]:


The major part of P in substrates in WWTPs is transferred to sludges (up to 90%) [40]. Therefore, sludge and sludge ash are the most promising P-rich residues. Sewage sludge production and disposal from urban wastewater in V4 countries are presented in Table 4. There is an increasing amount of sewage sludge generated in V4 countries. A higher amount of SS is observed in Poland, which corresponds to the highest population in this country, followed by Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In total, 107,845 thousand mg of SS was produced in V4 countries in 2019 [51].

**Table 4.** Sewage sludge production and disposal from urban wastewater in V4 countries in 2009–2019, in thousand mg (data from [51]).


There are several technologies for P recovery from SS, including P extraction by wet chemical methods under acid and alkali conditions [50]. However, to date, there is no reported industrial plant that is recovering P raw materials from SS in V4 countries. Therefore, further initiatives (as economic, environmental, law, or social) that support P recovery technologies implementation from SS should be developed.

The highest efficiency of P recovery was reported for the ashes generated in the process of thermal treatment of sewage sludge (>90%). In the V4 group, only Poland is equipped with municipal sewage sludge incineration plants (so-called mono-incineration plants). The detailed inventory of SSA generated in Poland was reported in [52]. The current capacity of 11 mono-incineration plants is equal to 160,300 mg d.w. of SS per year. The highest amount of ashes is generated in Warsaw and Cracow. The most important player is a monoincineration plant in Warsaw (the capital of Poland) that produced >10,000 mg d.w. in 2018 (38% of total SSA generated in Poland). There are also significant amounts of ashes in Cracow (18% of the total in Poland), Łód ´z (14%), Gda ´nsk (14%), and Gdynia (12%). The rest of the installations produced less than 10% (6%—Gdynia, 5%—Szczecin, 3%—Kielce, 2%— Bydgoszcz, 1%—Olsztyn). In total, in 2018, 24,510 of fly ash and 24,510 mg of bottom slag and ash were produced. They potentially can be used in phosphate fertiliser production; however, for economic reasons, there is no industrial processing and production of P fertilisers from this waste stream. To protect the utility value of ashes, they have to be stored selectively and then directed to P recovery. This supports the possibility of turning waste into a resource if certain conditions are met. Despite the high content of P raw materials in the ashes, it is usually present in chemically bound forms, which makes its

availability to plants difficult. In addition, the ashes may contain significant amounts of impurities, including heavy metals, which limits the possibility of their use in the production of fertilisers without prior treatment. In order to increase the bioavailability of phosphorus and reduce the content of heavy metals, this waste should be subjected to chemical and thermochemical processing. The most promising methods of phosphorus recovery from ashes are chemical methods (using phosphorus extraction-wet methods) and thermochemical methods (separation of P fraction at high temperatures 1000–2000 ◦C and conversion of phosphorus into forms available for plants) [52].

#### *3.3. Good Practices of P Recovery in V4 Countries*

This section includes an inventory of selected examples of good practices of sustainable P management in V4 countries. They include a list of innovative solutions enabling the recovery of P raw materials from different waste streams.

#### 3.3.1. Good Practices of P Recovery in Poland

In Poland, many activities are undertaken that are dedicated to sustainable and circular management of P. There are several projects in the country, the aim of which is, inter alia, P recovery. Moreover, many companies take measures to support the acquisition of P from secondary sources. Table 5 shows examples of good P management practices in Poland.




#### **Table 5.** *Cont.*

#### 3.3.2. Good Practices of P Recovery in Slovakia

In Slovakia, the company that produces fertilisers is Duslo, a.s. [60], which has become a fertiliser producer on a European and on a global scale. In addition, the country has undertaken actions aimed at sustainable P management, for example, through the project "Drinking water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment" [61] or the Slovak Grant Agency for Science (Grant No. 1/0563/15) [62]. These activities are presented in Table 6.

#### 3.3.3. Good Practices of P Recovery in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, there are projects, institutions and organisations that support the sustainable development of P management. It is worth noticing that there is a national platform dedicated to P management–Czech Phosphorus Platform [63], which is an organisation that allows its members to act in the field of, inter alia, reducing dependence on imports and recycling of P from waste, from crop and livestock production in agriculture, from industry and municipal sewage. The activities of the Czech community in the field of sustainable P management are presented in Table 7.

#### 3.3.4. Good Practices of P Recovery in HUNGARY

The leading Hungarian fertiliser partner network is called Genezis. This partner network includes five large companies, the activities and best practices of which are presented in Table 8.


**Table 6.** Examples of good practices P management in Slovakia.


**Table 7.** Examples of good practices P management in the Czech Republic.


**Table 8.** Examples of good practices P management in Hungary.

#### **4. Conclusions**

Sustainable management of mineral resources is an important element of functioning of European countries, including the V4 countries. P is one of the most important elements that belongs to the group of CRMs and is an essential element of human nutrition. Moreover, P cannot be replaced by another element. What is more, there is a problem with limiting P resources and planetary boundary for phosphorus is clearly exceeded. The V4 countries do mine P raw materials, and they satisfy the demand with imports. It is possible to replace the current imports of the V4 countries with raw materials from secondary sources, such as:


Currently, the identification of P recovery potential and good practices of P recovery in V4 countries is a research gap for which detailed data are not available. Moreover, despite the current economic crisis, fertilizers from primary sources are still cheaper than fertilizers from secondary sources. For this reason, in the V4 countries, the topic of good practices in the context of obtaining alternative fertilizers from secondary sources is not popular. Nevertheless, V4 countries have taken steps to broaden the knowledge of P raw materials in society. Initiatives that disseminate information on P raw materials include organisations promoting innovative solutions for the extraction and sustainable management of P or projects related to P raw materials in which countries participate. Such projects include "How to stay alive in V4? Phosphorus Friends Club builds V4's resilience", whose main goal is to increase the knowledge and awareness of the importance of P raw materials for food production in the V4 countries. The project also aims to develop a strategy for the sustainable management of P, which will contribute to ensuring a sufficient amount of P for food production. It also includes various awareness-raising events such as a workshop and a follow-up conference. Project products as a P management roadmap in V4 countries will accelerate the implementation of P recovery and ensure the safety of food production during and after the COVID pandemic. Such and similar initiatives may contribute to faster independence of the V4 countries from the import of P raw materials.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualisation, M.S., P.M. and J.J.K..; methodology, M.S. and P.M.; investigation, M.S.; P.M.; Z.Š.; T.B.; M.H.; J.J.K.; Y.V.F.; K.L.; E.K. and A.P.; resources, M.S.; P.M.; Z.Š.; T.B.; M.H.; J.J.K.; Y.V.F.; K.L.; E.K. and A.P.; writing—original draft preparation, M.S. and P.M.; writing—review and editing, M.S. and P.M.; visualisation, M.S. and P.M.; supervision, M.S. and J.J.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Data Availability Statement:** The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

**Acknowledgments:** The study was developed under the project: PhosV4—"How to stay alive in V4? Phosphorus Friends Club builds V4's resilience", no. 22110364 (2021–2023), which is financed by Visegrad Fund.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


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