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Innovative Approaches for Urban Watershed Wet-Weather Flow Management and Control
Citation:
FIELD, R. I., S. Struck, A. C. Rowney, AND A. N. TAFURI. Innovative Approaches for Urban Watershed Wet-Weather Flow Management and Control. Presented at WEF Collection Systems Specialty Conference, Raleigh, NC, June 12 - 15, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The “Innovative Approaches for Urban Watershed Wet-Weather Flow Management and Control: State of the Technology” project investigated a range of innovative technology and management strategies emerging outside the normal realm of business within the continental United States, for dealing with urban infrastructure management control and failing infrastructure. The intent of the project was to establish areas where external information can benefit U.S. EPA research. This included gaining a better understanding on developing priorities, research breakthroughs in other countries, potential overlaps or duplications, and common needs across locations. Specific technologies and topics that have been implemented or researched for implementation in the U.S. are targeted outcomes. The approach used in this work was to i) build on earlier U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development Advanced Topics research (which among other things evaluated emerging needs with a focus on CSOs), ii) complete a literature review to establish focus and roadmap assemble communities from outside the US, and iii) conduct workshops to enable focused review that is beyond day to day preoccupations. Workshops were held in Edinburgh, Scotland and Lyon, France in September and November of 2008, respectively, with a total attendance of 89 international experts. Investigations of wet weather flow treatment approaches through source control (and treatment) are included in this project. Innovative systems that treat stormwater as a beneficial resource through reclamation and reuse are also explored. This effort focused on practices and technologies that can be implemented at the urban watershed management and infrastructure interface to combine cost-effective, integrated solutions. The result was a document containing urban watershed wet-weather flow management and control approaches from a national and international perspective. Specific tasks include a global information search to identify wet weather flow management approaches that represent the current state of the technology. This search was documented in a white paper that has been subjected to review by an international representation of experts to provide comment and feedback on the state-of-the-technology. This document provided information towards guidance with a targeted user community of regulators, academics, consultants, and municipalities in order to provide state of the science assessment and recommendations of water, wastewater, and stormwater management and treatment strategies. This document reports the findings of the international workshop participants providing conclusions and recommendations to guide future research, development, and demonstration initiatives. Recommendations include a shift from some of the very broad considerations put forth in this paper and focus to define a set of achievable, actionable technologies and advances. The outcomes suggested encourage a thoughtful discussion of the needs and direction of our evolving water and wastewater management community.