Substance flow analysis of the wastewater collection and treatment system

Abstract

The holistic approach to water resources management introduced by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) implies the adoption of methodologies that are suitable to reveal the major pressures and impacts on the receiving waters at river basin level in an effective and efficient way. This study investigated the general adequacy of substance flow analysis (SFA) for the analysis of urban wastewater systems (urban catchment, sewer, WWTP, receiving water). The paper provides a description of the approach and a useful demonstration of the method through the illustration of a case study. The study considered the fluxes of six substances going to, through and from the wastewater management system. The results suggest that the proposed methodology can be used for the identification of stressors on the receiving water bodies and highlights that the scale dependency of results in such studies is of primary importance.

Keywords:

• Urban wastewater management
• Spatial scale
• Substance flow analysis
• Systems analysis
• Water Framework Directive

Acknowledgements

The results presented in this publication have been elaborated in the frame of the EU project CD4WC, contract no EVK1-CT-2002-00118. The programme is organised within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme in the 5th Framework Programme for Science Research and Technological Development of the European Commission. Peter A. Vanrolleghem is Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Modelling.