Cost effectiveness of centralised and decentralised storm water treatment

As part of a research & development project commissioned by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry for the Environment and Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (MUNLV) an examination is being carried out of the general possibilities for centralised and decentralised treatment storm water runoff to be discharged into (canalised) receiving waters and the costs ensuing from this. The examination of the different options is being carried out under real conditions, with the Briller Creek (Wuppertal/Germany) and Müggen Creek (Remscheid/Germany) catchment areas being used as models. The range of investigations deals with a comparison between 'decentralised, semicentralised, centralised' storm water treatment, centralised storm water treatment involving a separate sewer and parameter-specific pollution based storm water runoff control. In the framework of the research project each of the variants is to be elaborated and the costs are to be calculated so as to permit a comparison between the different system designs. In particular, the investigations are to take into account the actual requirements to be met by storm water drainage systems involving separate sewage systems.     

Characterization of runoff from various urban catchments at different spatial scales in Beijing, China

In order to investigate the characterization of runoff in storm sewer from various urban catchments, three monitoring systems at different spatial scales have been installed separately. They have been held since July 2010 in urban area of Beijing (China). The monitoring data revealed that chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and NH(3)-N values significantly exceed the Class V surface water quality standard developed by Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China (MEP). A surface solids buildup and wash off model for small watershed was adopted to analyze and discuss the process of a runoff pollutant discharge. More than a half of pollutant parameters presented a good fit to the model. However, a slightly worse-fit to the wash off model appeared in less than half of the data. Due to the influence of sewer sediments, sewer system characteristics, catchment characteristics, and other reasons, first flush was seldom observed in storm sewer runoff from these three survey areas. Meanwhile, the correlation between TSS and any other pollutant was analyzed according to cumulative load of pollutants in runoff events. An event mean concentrations (EMCs) approach was adopted to quantify the pollution of runoff. EMCs of various pollutants in storm sewer runoff between different rainfall events were slightly higher than the typical values observed in similar areas at home and abroad, according to other studies reported in literature. Based on quantitative analysis, it can be concluded that urban non-point source pollution is recognized as the major causes of quality deterioration in the receiving water bodies. This is after the point source pollution has been controlled substantially in Beijing. An integrated strategy, which combines centralized and decentralized control, along with the conditions of meteorology, hydrology, urban planning, existing drainage system, etc., will be an effective and economic approach to urban runoff pollution control.     

Monitoring the performance of a storm water separating manifold with distributed temperature sensing

Storm water separating manifolds in house connections have been introduced as a cost effective solution to disconnect impervious areas from combined sewers. Such manifolds have been applied by the municipality of Breda, the Netherlands. In order to investigate the performance of the manifolds, a monitoring technique (distributed temperature sensing or DTS) using fiber optic cables has been applied in the sewer system of Breda. This paper describes the application of DTS as a research tool in sewer systems. DTS proves to be a powerful tool to monitor the performance of (parts of) a sewer system in time and space. The research project showed that DTS is capable of monitoring the performance of house connections and identifying locations of inflow of both sewage and storm runoff. The research results show that the performance of storm water separating manifolds varies over time, thus making them unreliable.     

低影响开发措施的城市雨洪控制效果模拟

以广州市某小区为研究对象,根据实测降雨径流资料,结合现状排水管网,建立暴雨雨水管理模型(storm water management model,SWMM),模拟不同降雨条件下的产流与排水状况。基于SWMM的低影响开发(low impact development,LID)模块,模拟分析采用渗透铺装、下凹式绿地、雨水花园和LID组合方案对城市雨洪的控制作用。结果表明,采用渗透铺装、下凹式绿地和雨水花园等LID措施,洪峰流量和径流系数均明显降低,可有效缓解市政管网的排水压力,各种LID措施的雨洪控制效果在低重现期降雨时更为显著。其中雨水花园对径流系数和洪峰流量的削减效果最显著;LID组合措施对洪峰的削减和滞后作用较好;下凹式绿地和渗透铺装单独布设的雨洪控制效果一般。     

Correlation of combined sewer overflow reduction due to real-time control and resulting effect on the oxygen concentration in the river

Real-time control of the sewer system is a frequently applied measure for the abatement of pollution caused by urban runoff in the receiving water. Although the goal is an improvement of the water quality the actual aim of real-time control is usually formulated as the reduction/avoidance of combined sewer overflow. However, testing a virtual drainage system by means of a three-month rain series, hardly any correlation between the combined sewer overflow reduction and the resulting effect on the oxygen concentration in the river has been found. The efficiency of real-time control for pollution abatement by means of artificial performance criteria has to be doubted.     

Combined sewer system versus separate system--a comparison of ecological and economical performance indicators.

This paper aims at comparing the cost-effectiveness of the two main types of urban drainage systems, that is, the combined sewer system and the separate sewer system, based on the analysis of simulations. The problem of which of the two systems is better was heavily discussed over the years and the answer given to the question was usually: 'it depends'. In this work, specific impacts are investigated in terms of a cause-effect analysis. The results are subsequently summarized and can help in the choice of the system to be implemented. Despite earlier reasoning, studies on river water quality strongly indicate that the separate system is not always the preferable solution because the polluted runoff from the street, containing e.g. different heavy metals, is discharged directly into the river. This analysis aims to compare the two different sewer systems on the basis of literature data and simulation of specific cases. The results are evaluated, as suggested in the EU-Water Framework Directive, on the basis of different assessment criteria: river water quality and morphology impacts, emissions and costs.     

Measurement of flow velocity profiles in tank structures using the prototype device OCM Pro LR

Generally, studies investigating the treatment efficiency of tank structures for storm water or waste water treatment observe pollutant flows in connection with conditions of hydraulic loading. Further investigations evaluate internal processes in tank structures using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling or lab scale tests. As flow paths inside of tank structures have a considerable influence on the treatment efficiency, flow velocity profile (FVP) measurements can provide a possibility to calibrate CFD models and contribute to a better understanding of pollutant transport processes in these structures. This study focuses on tests carried out with the prototype FVP measurement device OCM Pro LR by NIVUS in a sedimentation tank with combined sewer overflow (CSO) situated in Petange, Luxembourg. The OCM Pro LR measurement system analyses the echo of ultrasonic signals of different flow depths to get a detailed FVP. A comparison of flow velocity measured by OCM Pro LR with a vane measurement showed good conformity. The FVPs measured by OCM Pro LR point out shortcut flows within the tank structure during CSO events, which could cause a reduction of the cleaning efficiency of the structure. The results prove the applicability of FVP measurements in large-scale structures.     

Storm water management for society and nature via service learning,ecological engineering and ecohydrology

A framework for urban storm‐water management that moves beyond flood control to improve societal and ecological services will maximize the functions and benefits of water resources management. Theoretical constructs for such work originate from the integration of ecological engineering, ecohydrology and service learning paradigms. Implementation consists of simulating, monitoring and reporting how storm‐water design decisions to infiltrate or directly discharge runoff result in a complex set of linked adjustments to the dynamics of the water table, soil chemistry concentrations, plant stress/viability, terrestrial habitat, river loads/flows, and aquatic habitat patterns. Coordination of a socio‐ecological‐based urban storm‐water management programme is discussed using a case study in the Onondaga Creek watershed that drains through the City of Syracuse, NY, USA. In Onondaga Creek, service learning‐directed research gathered findings on the geomorphological characterization of a healthy stream, flood impacts of storm sewer separation, and channel stability with concrete removal. Unfortunately, linkages between systems will remain unexplored until the development of more tightly coupled channel‐watershed simulation models.     

Wastewater flow management to maximise the capacity of sewage treatment plants

Wastewater treatment plants (WwTP) of combined sewer systems are designed to operate satisfactorily for the design case. Often this is a steady-state operation with high influent flow rates and pollutant loads at disadvantageous operating conditions (e.g. low water temperature and/or high sludge volume index). Consequently all plants maintain reserve capacities for most of the time, even during high storm water inflows. This paper reports of the development of an automatic control strategy to manage the wastewater flow to a WwTP according to its actual treatment capacity. The ammonia concentration in the nitrification zone and the sludge blanket level in the secondary clarifier were taken as key control parameters. The benefits of this novel control strategy were evaluated at a full scale plant (18 000pe) in Germany. The new system allowed the plant to process on average a stormwater flow 27% above the previous capacity. The plant could handle a maximum flow 45% above the design value while the effluent quality stayed within limits at all times. Our results show that combined storm water runoffs can significantly be reduced by enhancing the WwTP capacity by better flow management.     

An investigation on suspended solids sources in urban stormwater runoff using 7Be and 210 Pb as tracers

Radionuclides 7Be and 210Pb were used as tracers to identify suspended solid sources and transport pathways in the storm runoff events from urban catchments. Water samples were collected in runoff of storm events in Wuhan City, China. Suspended solids, COD, TN, TP, and the 7Be and 210Pb activities in the suspended solids were analyzed. Following the pathway of urban runoff pollution, the rain precipitation, urban ground dust, gutter sediments, and sewer deposit samples were analyzed for 7Be and 210Pb activities. The results show that the 7Be/210Pb ratio decreased through the system from a value of 0.86+/-0.44 in ground dust, to 0.63+/-0.18 in suspended solids in storm runoff from the sewer outlet, to 0.55+/-0.31 in gutter sediments, and to 0.41+/-0.13 in combined sewer deposits. The 7Be/210Pb ratio decrease suggests that 60+/-12% of suspended solids at sewer outlet originated from the drainage system sediments, the rest was from the wash-off of urban ground dust during the rainfall events. The 7Be and 210Pb trace approach can give insight into the short-term source and transport of pollutant during storm runoff in urban drainage systems and it can help to develop management strategies.     

System design and treatment efficiency of a surface flow constructed wetland receiving runoff impacted stream water

This study reported the efficiency of a free water surface flow constructed wetland (CW) system that receives runoff impacted stream water from a forested and agricultural watershed. Investigations were conducted to examine the potential effect of hydraulic fluctuations on the CW as a result of storm events and the changes in water quality along the flow path of the CW. Based on the results, the incoming pollutant concentrations were increased during storm events and greater at the near end of the storm than at the initial time of storm. A similar trend was observed to the concentrations exiting the CW due to the wetland being a relatively small percentage of the watershed (<0.1%) that allowed delays in runoff time during storm events. The concentrations of most pollutants were significantly reduced (p < 0.05) except for nitrate (p = 0.5). Overall, this study suggests that the design of the system could feasibly function for the retention of most pollutants during storm events as the actual water quality of the outflow was significantly better by 21-71% than the inflow and the levels of pollutants were reduced to appreciable levels.     

Monitoring in inline storage sewers for stormwater treatment to determine efficiencies.

A special structure of combined sewer overflow tanks is the inline storage sewer with downstream discharge (SKU). This layout has the advantage that besides the sewer system, no other structures are required for storm water treatment. Consequently only very little space is required and compared to combined sewer overflow tanks, there is an enormous potential in reducing costs during construction. To investigate the efficiency of an inline storage sewer, a monitoring station was established in Dortmund-Scharnhorst, Germany. The monitoring station was in operation for a period of 2.5 years. Within this period water samples were taken during a total of 20 discharge events. Besides the complete hydraulic data collection, seven water samplers took more than 5,000 water samples during dry and wet weather. This adds up to a total of more than 20,000 individual lab analyses. The average of the total efficiency for the SKU-West is 86%. 29% of this efficiency can be attributed to the throttle flow. The remaining 57% can be divided into a part of 48% that can be attributed to the process storage and 9% that can be attributed to sedimentation and erosion process.     

Urban total phosphorus loads to the St. Clair-Detroit River System

The St. Clair-Detroit River System watershed is a large, binational watershed draining into the connecting channel between lakes Huron and Erie. In addition to extensive agricultural lands, it contains large urban areas that discharge phosphorus from point source facilities, runoff of impervious surfaces, and overflows of combined sewers. To help guide actions to reduce phosphorus input to Lake Erie, we analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of loads from the three largest urban areas in the watershed (southeast Michigan; Windsor, Ontario; and London, Ontario), and used a previously calibrated storm water management model (SWMM) to explore options for reducing loads around metro Detroit. Point sources in these three urban areas contribute, on average, 81% of the total urban load and 19% of the Detroit River’s total phosphorus (TP) load to Lake Erie, while combined sewer overflows and runoff both contribute about 10% each to the urban load and about 2.5% each to the Detroit River’s load to Lake Erie. Most of the urban load (56%) comes from a single point source, the wastewater treatment facility in Detroit; however, TP loads from that facility have decreased by about 51% since 2008 due to improvements in wastewater treatment. Model simulations suggest that increasing pervious land area or implementing green infrastructure could help reduce combined sewer overflows in certain upper portions of the metro Detroit sewer system, but reductions were much less expressed for wet-weather discharge from the system.     

Development and implementation of a real-time control strategy for the sewer system of the city of Vienna.

The paper describes the realization of a real-time control for the Vienna sewer system. The project is scheduled for completion for 2004. The 3.5 year project comprises all planning stages starting with the recording of data up to the planning of measuring and controlling units. The concrete steps of the planning stages are explained. A measuring system including 25 rainfall measurements, 40 flow measurements and 20 water level measurements is implemented as an online system. This measuring system is designed to achieve two objectives, on the one hand the real-time control and on the other hand the calibration of the model that is used for the hydrodynamic sewer system simulation. The approx. 53,000 pipes have served to generate a coarse network of no more than approx. 2600 pipes. The area data were derived with high accuracy from available aerial photograph interpretations. With simulation runs of a rule-based control software the system operation was examined. A self-learning system will improve the rule basis. A forecasting model that uses weather observation radar will additionally influence the controlling decisions. The findings from the investigations are immediately considered in the planning of measuring and control units. The simulated results for the first phase of implementation, which demonstrate the benefit of RTC for the Vienna sewer system, are explained.     

Dynamic optimisation of WWTP inflow to reduce total emission.

A prerequisite for an integrated control of sewer and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is a capacity driven inflow control to WWTP. This requires reliable information about the current status of WWTP operation and its behaviour on varying hydraulic, COD and nutrient loads. So far most of the proposed control strategies are based on hypothetical modelling studies. In this paper the behaviour of three large WWTPs on increased storm water loads is analysed based on online measurements of several years. In all cases the main limiting factors for an increase of load were the sedimentation processes in the secondary clarifier and the nitrification capacity. In one case study predictive control strategies have been developed observing these processes which are backboned by effluent control. Tests using an integrated model of sewer and WWTP demonstrate that inflow control on emission load varies significantly with rain intensity.     

Performance of lot-level low impact development technologies under historical and climate change scenarios

Low impact development (LID) systems have potential to make urban cities more sustainable and resilient, particularly under challenging climate conditions. To quantify performance capabilities, modeling results for an array of combinations of LIDs are described using PCSWMM at lot-level to examine performance of individual LIDs on volume and peak flow reductions. Among the four LIDs studied: rain barrel (RB), vegetative swale (VS), bioretention cell (BC), and permeable pavement (PP), PP at lot-level demonstrated the best capability for reducing surface runoff volumes and peak runoff rates under historical weather conditions, while BC showed similar capability for reduction of runoff volumes but minimal peak flow reduction. With PP as the controlling method at lot-level, the maximum percentage reduction of runoff volume for a 2-year storm is 58% whereas for a 100-year storm, the runoff volume reduction is 20%. These results mean the extent of flooding that may arise from the 100-year storm is reduced, but not eliminated. Effectively, the 100-year storm volumes with LID are devolved to have flooding equivalent to a 25-year storm. Under climate change scenarios, performance for all LIDs declined at various levels, where BC was the most resilient LID for a climate change scenario, such that projected 2-year or 5-year storms with climate change will have its impact devolved with LID in place, to result in similar volumes and peaks without LID under historical conditions. Furthermore, even with an assembly of lot-level LIDs distributed throughout the community, there is not attenuation to substantial degrees of flooding for major events, but there can be effective control for water quantity for small (2- to 5-years in particular) storm events.     

Leaching of additives from construction materials to urban storm water runoff

Urban water management requires further clarification about pollutants in storm water. Little is known about the release of organic additives used in construction materials and the impact of these compounds to storm water runoff. We investigated sources and pathways of additives used in construction materials, i.e., biocides in facades' render as well as root protection products in bitumen membranes for rooftops. Under wet-weather conditions, the concentrations of diuron, terbutryn, carbendazim, irgarol 1051 (all from facades) and mecoprop in storm water and receiving water exceeded the predicted no-effect concentrations values and the Swiss water quality standard of 0.1 microg/L. Under laboratory conditions maximum concentrations of additives were in the range of a few milligrams and a few hundred micrograms per litre in runoff of facades and bitumen membranes. Runoff from aged materials shows approximately one to two orders of magnitude lower concentrations. Concentrations decreased also during individual runoff events. In storm water and receiving water the occurrence of additives did not follow the typical first flush model. This can be explained by the release lasting over the time of rainfall and the complexity of the drainage network. Beside the amounts used, the impact of construction materials containing hazardous additives on water quality is related clearly to the age of the buildings and the separated sewer network. The development of improved products regarding release of hazardous additives is the most efficient way of reducing the pollutant load from construction materials in storm water runoff.     

低地坪高潮位地区的雨水管道淹没出流计算

根据水力学理论,阐述了重力流雨水管道淹没出流的水力计算方法,并结合工程实例,介绍了低地坪高潮位地区雨水管道淹没出流的简化计算方法。提出低地坪高潮位地区的重力流雨水管道应优先采用小坡降、低流速、大管径系统,以尽可能降低水位壅高对管道的不利影响。     

Continuous monitoring in sewer networks an approach for quantification of pollution loads from CSOs into surface water bodies.

Different approaches for quantification of pollution loads discharged from combined sewer networks into surface water bodies have been observed over the last few years and decades, but a large number of unresolved problems still remain. Many monitoring campaigns have been based on manual or automated spot sampling - with the long known limitations of this method such as sampling errors and errors due to sample conservation, transport and preparation. On the other hand, only recently have sensors became available which are suitable for continuous application in sewer networks. A large number of practical problems still have to be solved before continuous monitoring in sewer networks will be successful. Additionally, most of the applicable sensors are based on surrogate methods which results in a considerable effort for reference measurements for sensor calibration. Finally, it has to be considered that, depending on the sewer network topography, deposition and remobilisation of pollutants varies considerably, which limits the generality of monitoring results and, subsequently, their applicability as a base for the design of storm water tanks or combined sewer overflows (CSO). A monitoring station for continuous monitoring of load discharges from a CSO has been installed and operated for more than one year. The design and equipment of the measurement station, operational experiences and results are given in this paper.