Wet Weather Practices: Treatment Systems and Tools

Abstract

Wet weather treatment for water resource recovery facilities involves the integration of various treatment processes, systems, and ancillary support systems to be operated over a wide range of conditions and scenarios. Planners and designers need to holistically understand these systems in order to develop cost effective and sound operational strategies. There are a variety of options and approaches that can be implemented at various stages within the treatment process and depending on local facility conditions can provide cost effective strategies to meet with the challenging and demanding tasks associated with treating wet weather events. Members of the WEF Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design Committee are finalizing a WEF Special Publication entitled Managing Wet Weather Events at Water Resource RecoveryFacilities Special Publication. This WEF Special Publication focuses on wet weather design issues and effects on operations. Historically, publications provided design peak factors for wet weather events, yet there is limited work that incorporates the effects of these events on both design and operation. Unlike other available publications, this publication addresses both wastewater treatment plant design and operations practices related to wet weather flows, as well as expanding on the peculiarities of wet weather from both design and operational perspectives. This paper provides a general discussion of various wet weather treatment techniques and provides a summary overview of facility process presented within the pending publication.