Modelling of sewer exfiltration to groundwater in urban wastewater systems: A critical review

Nguyen, Hong Hanh; Peche, Aaron; Venohr, Markus

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126130

Cited by 31 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…Expanded observational capacity of water‐table dynamics in urban watersheds would provide sorely needed data to verify what factions of sewer systems are, or are not, regularly inundated by groundwater, thus significantly aiding repair efforts. The same data would enable more rigorous calibration and verification of coupled pipe‐ and groundwater‐hydraulic models that might be used to simulate I&I and exfiltration (e.g., as reviewed by Nguyen et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estimates of exfiltration over longer time periods, and for whole watersheds, are almost entirely derived from model simulations or other water and/or solute mass‐balance approaches (e.g., as reviewed by Nguyen et al., 2021). Nguyen and Venohr (2021) estimate that across Germany, 2.0%–2.1% of wastewater baseflow contributes to exfiltration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contextualizing Inflow and Infiltration Within the Streamflow Regime of Urban Watersheds

Pangle

Diem

Milligan

et al. 2022

Water Resources Research

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Degradation of wastewater infrastructure impacts urban-watershed dynamics in the United States. Defects in sanitary-sewer pipes result in losses of untreated wastewater into the environment. The same defects, in combination with other flow pathways, enable large volumes of precipitation and groundwater to flow into sanitary-sewer pipes (e.g., Pawlowski et al., 2014). The rapid inflow of precipitation and persistent infiltration of groundwater into sanitary-sewer pipes are known as inflow and infiltration (I&I), respectively. Inflow and infiltration are two mechanisms by which water flows between human infrastructure and the landscape may significantly alter the hydrologic cycle within urban watersheds (e.g.,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing Inflow and Infiltration Within the Streamflow Regime of Urban Watersheds

Pangle

Diem

Milligan

et al. 2022

Water Resources Research

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“…Besides corrosion of sewer pipes, e.g. due to hydrogen sulfide, external factors like land subsidence, invading tree roots or heavy traffic can damage sewer pipes leading to sewer leakages particularly when infrastructure is aged and groundwater tables are low (Nguyen et al 2021 ). While extensive research efforts focused on quantifying the extent of sewer leakages and resulting exfiltration rates, the only agreeable common seems to be that sewer leakages are highly variable and strongly dependent on local circumstances and the chosen modelling approach (Rutsch et al 2008 ).…”

Section: Sewers and Their Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While consensus exists that sewer exfiltration mainly affects the direct surroundings of leaking sewers (Wolf et al 2012 ), there is an ongoing debate about the potential environmental and human health impacts of the resulting groundwater contamination. Since exfiltration rates can vary substantially between cities and across seasons (Nguyen et al 2021 ), more research is needed to assess whether emission estimations of wastewater-related CECs could be affected.…”

Section: Sewers and Their Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the sewer system in estimating urban emissions of chemicals of emerging concern

Zillien

Posthuma

Roex

et al. 2022

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol

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The use of chemicals by society has resulted in calls for more effective control of their emissions. Many of these chemicals are poorly characterized because of lacking data on their use, environmental fate and toxicity, as well as lacking detection techniques. These compounds are sometimes referred to as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Urban areas are an important source of CECs, where these are typically first collected in sewer systems and then discharged into the environment after being treated in a wastewater treatment plant. A combination of emission estimation techniques and environmental fate models can support the early identification and management of CEC-related environmental problems. However, scientific insight in the processes driving the fate of CECs in sewer systems is limited and scattered. Biotransformation, sorption and ion-trapping can decrease CEC loads, whereas enzymatic deconjugation of conjugated metabolites can increase CEC loads as metabolites are back-transformed into their parent respective compounds. These fate processes need to be considered when estimating CEC emissions. This literature review collates the fragmented knowledge and data on in-sewer fate of CECs to develop practical guidelines for water managers on how to deal with in-sewer fate of CECs and highlights future research needs. It was assessed to what extent empirical data is in-line with text-book knowledge and integrated sewer modelling approaches. Experimental half-lives (n = 277) of 96 organic CECs were collected from literature. The findings of this literature review can be used to support environmental modelling efforts and to optimize monitoring campaigns, including field studies in the context of wastewater-based epidemiology. Graphical abstract

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“…Despite the hazards of urban ex-infiltration on public health, the environmental impact of urban sewer leakages receives less attention and is even ignored in urban system emissions, especially in large-scale studies (Blackwood et al 2005). Sewer ex-infiltration is a dynamic process varying with precipitation and groundwater elevation as well as flow conditions within the pipe, which will deteriorate the colmation layer formed on defects (Nguyen et al 2021). Although sewer exfiltration is known as a self-sealing process, high-velocity flow during a storm event will relatively wash the colmation layer, which will increase the leakage rate up to 20 times for the entire network (Held et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a decentralized solution for sewer leakage detection – a review

Sadeghikhah

Ahmed

Krebs

2022

Water Science and Technology

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Sewer pipelines often leak due to physical, operational, and environmental deterioration factors. Due to the hidden infrastructure of the sewer systems, leakage detection is often costly, challenging, and crucial at the city scale. Various sewer inspection methods (SIMs) have been developed and implemented these days. This study evaluates the existing SIMs and categorizes them based on their area of impact (AoI) into three classes. Tier-one (T-I) methods, such as deterioration models and hotspot mapping, tend to grasp a broader and reliable understanding of the sewer systems' structural health and pinpoint the network sections that are more prone to leakage. As an intermediate solution, Tier-two (T-II) non-destructive methods, such as aerial thermal imagery (ATI) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), inspect the potential pipe clusters regardless of their material and visualize the leaked plume generated from defects and cracks. Tier-three (T-III) methods include in-pipe SIMs, such as visual and multi-sensory inspections, that can provide an in-depth understanding of the pipe and its deterioration stage. In this study, we suggest that a sustainable sewer inspection plan should include at least two SIMs belonging to different tiers to provide a dual investigation of precision and AoI, a balance between cost and time as well as an equilibrium between self-sufficiency and decentralization.

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Modelling of sewer exfiltration to groundwater in urban wastewater systems: A critical review

Cited by 31 publications

References 106 publications

Contextualizing Inflow and Infiltration Within the Streamflow Regime of Urban Watersheds

Contextualizing Inflow and Infiltration Within the Streamflow Regime of Urban Watersheds

The role of the sewer system in estimating urban emissions of chemicals of emerging concern

Towards a decentralized solution for sewer leakage detection – a review

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