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MANUAL: REAL TIME CONTROL OF COMBINED SEWERS
Citation:
VITASOVIC, Z. AND M. K. STINSON. MANUAL: REAL TIME CONTROL OF COMBINED SEWERS. Presented at World Water and Environmental Resource Congress, Omaha, NE, May 21 - 26, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Managers, engineers, and operators of combined urban sewer systems are faced with difficult problems related to the operation and maintenance of their facilities. In addition to the issues related to the operation and upkeep of the system, many sewerage agencies are facing increasing public concern about the environmental impact of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's) and local flooding. In many instances, these operational challenges need to be faced in an atmosphere of limited resources and fiscal pressures to "achieve more with less." Often, fiscal pressures are accompanied by concurrent increase in performance requirements from the regulatory agencies. The design practices for sewer networks have historically been conservative, not taking into account the dynamics, and thus it included significant safety factors. As sewerage network design does not normally include consideration of real time control, there are often opportunities to optimize the utilization of the existing system through operational strategies. The problem of sewage spills and local flooding has traditionally been addressed by large scale capital improvement programs that focus on construction alternatives such as sewer separation or construction of storage facilities. The cost of such projects is often high, especially in older communities where the population density and the value of land are high. In the last few years, Real Time Control (RTC) of conveyance systems has been emerging as an attractive alternative. Although there are still only a few documented implementations of RTC to large urban sewerage systems, this technology has been successfully implemented to large urban systems. This paper summarizes the RTC Manual developed by U.S. EPA. The primary goal of the RTC Manual is to provide practical guidance for municipal engineers and managers who are considering either the acquisition or an upgrade of an RTC system. In addition, this document contains pertinent information on RTC systems as a single complete reference, not available elsewhere. Further, it should be a useful resource document for federal and state program officials and regulators, researchers, consulting firms, and anyone interested.