Impacts on Rural Wastewater Systems in Subarctic Regions due to Changes in Inputs from Households
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 1
Abstract
The use of water-saving appliances and heat exchangers is becoming increasingly popular to decrease water consumption and recover energy from preheated water. However, such in-household changes can bring particular implications for subarctic rural areas, in terms of solids deposition in sewers and drops in performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), because these are already experiencing diminishing wastewater flows due to depopulation and seasonal dips in wastewater temperature resulting from infiltration into sewers. Hence, this study has considered two communities in Sweden, postulating three different cases with various scales of retrofitting and usage. The results indicate that the decrease in in-pipe velocities when all households are retrofitted with water-saving appliances could be counteracted by sewer relining, but not by the inclusion of a conventional estimate of infiltration. However, for the case in which retrofitting was combined with decreased usage of the appliances, the decrease in self-cleansing capacity could not be counteracted. The retrofitting of heat exchangers under shower trays in all households did not have a significant effect on treatment processes at the WWTP.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The study was funded by The Swedish Research Council (FORMAS) as part of the project Alice. The authors also acknowledge VINNOVA for cofunding this study. The personnel involved in this study from the municipality of Gällivare are acknowledged for their assistance during the data collection: Lars Dyrlind, Gun-Marie Hannu, and Tommy Martinsson.
References
Ainger, C. M., Armstrong, R. J., and Butler, D. (1998). Dry weather flow in sewers, Construction Industry Research and Information Association, London.
Anderson, D. L., and Siegrist, R. L. (1989). “The performance of ultra-low-volume flush toilets in Phoenix.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 81(3), 52–57.
Ashley, R., Blackwood, D., Butler, D., and Jowitt, P. (2004a). Sustainable water services: A procedural guide, IWA Publishing, London.
Ashley, R. M., Bertrand-Krajewski, J., Hvitved-Jacobsen, T., and Verbanck, M. (2004b). Solids in sewers, IWA Publishing, London.
Bäckman, H. (1985). “Infiltration/inflow in separate sewer systems—Some aspects on sources and a methodology for localization and quantification of infiltration into sanitary sewers caused by leaking storm sewers.” Ph.D. thesis, Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Balmér, P. (1970). “Biological and chemical waste treatment experiments in far northern Sweden.” Int. Symp. on Water Pollution Control in Cold Climates, Institute of water resources, Univ. of Alaska and Federal Water Quality Administration. Washington, DC, 252–262.
Brown, D. (1996). “Operation of sewer systems in Ghana.” Low-cost sewerage, Wiley, Chichester, U.K., 73–96.
Butler, D., and Davies, J. W. (2011). Urban drainage, 3rd Ed., Spon Press, London.
Butler, D., and Memon, F. A. (2006). Water demand management, IWA Publishing, London.
Butler, D., and Pinkerton, B. R. (1987). Gravity flow pipe design charts, Thomas Telford, London.
CEN (European Committee for Standardization). (2000). “Gravity drainage systems inside buildings. 2: Sanitary pipework, layout and calculation.” EN 12056-2, Brussels, Belgium.
CEN (European Committee for Standardization). (2008). “Drain and sewer systems outside buildings.” EN 752:2008, Brussels, Belgium.
De Bénédittis, J., and Bertrand-Krajewski, J. (2005). “Infiltration in sewer systems: Comparison of measurement methods.” Water Sci. Technol., 52(3), 219–227.
Dirksen, J. (2013). “Monitoring ground settlement to guide sewer asset management.” Ph.D. thesis, Delft Univ., Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Drinkwater, A., Chambers, B., and Waylen, C. (2008). Less water to waste—Impact of reductions in water demand on wastewater collection and treatment system, Environment Agency, Bristol, U.K.
Dürrenmatt, D. J., and Wanner, O. (2008). “Simulation of the wastewater temperature in sewers with TEMPEST.” Water Sci. Technol., 57(11), 1809–1815.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. (2015). “Continental subarctic climate.” ⟨https://www.britannica.com/science/continental-subarctic-climate⟩ (Mar. 2, 2015).
Fiddes, D., and Simmonds, N. (1981). “Infiltration—Do we have to live with it?” Publ. Health Eng., 9(1), 11–13.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2015). “AQUASTAT database.” ⟨http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/query/⟩ (Mar. 9, 2015).
Friedler, E., Butler, D., and Brown, D. M. (1996). “Domestic WC usage patterns.” Build. Environ., 31(4), 385–392.
Frijns, J., Hofman, J., and Nederlof, M. (2013). “The potential of (waste)water as energy carrier.” Energy Convers. Manage., 65, 357–363.
Gällivare Municipality. (2014). “Vatten och avlopp.” ⟨http://www.gallivare.se/Kommun/Miljo--Halsa/Vatten-och-avlopp/⟩ (Feb. 11, 2015).
Gunnarsdóttir, R., Jenssen, P. D., Jensen, P. E., Villumsen, A., and Kallenborn, R. (2013). “A review of wastewater handling in the Arctic with special reference to pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and microbial pollution.” Ecol. Eng., 50(Jan), 76–85.
Haglund, J., and Olofsson, B. (1997). Utvärdering Av VA-Lösningar i Ekobyar, Vatten-Och Avloppsverksföreningen, Stockholm, Sweden (in Swedish).
IWEM (Institution of Water and Environment Management). (1993). Glossary, handbooks of U.K. wastewater practices, London.
Kaczor, G., and Bugajski, P. (2012). “Impact of snowmelt inflow on temperature of sewage discharged to treatment plants.” Pol. J. Environ. Stud., 21(2), 381–386.
Lillywhite, M. S. T., and Webster, C. J. D. (1979). “Investigations of drain blockages and their implications for design.” J. Inst. Public Health Eng., 7(2), 53–60.
Lindgren, A. (2013). Ansökan Om Tillstånd Enligt Miljöbalken Till Utsläpp Av Renat Hushållsspillvatten från Skaulo Avloppsreningsverk, Gällivare Kommun, Gällivare kommun/WSP, Gällivare, Sweden (in Swedish).
Littlewood, K., Memon, F., and Butler, D. (2007). “Downstream implications of ultra-low flush WCs.” Water Pract. Technol., 2(2), wpt2007037.
Malm, A., and Svensson, G. (2011). “Material och åldersfördelning för Sveriges VA-nät och framtida förnyelsebehov [Age and material distribution in Swedish water and wastewater networks and future renewal needs].”, Swedish Water and Wastewater Association, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mara, D. (1996). Low-cost sewerage, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Mara, D. D., Sleigh, A., and Tayler, K. (2001). PC-based simplified sewer design, Univ. of Leeds, Leeds, U.K.
Marklund, S. (1993). “Cold climate sequencing batch reactor biological phosphorus removal—Results 1991–92.” Water Sci. Technol., 28(10), 275–282.
Marklund, S., and Morling, S. (1994). “Biological phosphorus removal at temperatures from 3 to 10°C—A full-scale study of a sequencing batch reactor unit.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 21(1), 81–88.
Ministry of Housing and Local Government. (1970). “Technical committee on storm overflows and the disposal of storm sewage.”, HMSO, Richmond, U.K.
Orman, N., and Clarke, P. (1994). Non critical sewer maintenance: Feasibility study, Foundation for Water Research, Marlow, U.K.
Parkinson, J., Schütze, M., and Butler, D. (2005). “Modelling the impacts of domestic water conservation on the sustainability of the urban sewerage system.” J. Chartered Inst. Water Environ. Manage., 19(1), 49–56.
Penn, R., Schütze, M., and Friedler, E. (2013). “Modelling the effects of on-site greywater reuse and low flush toilets on municipal sewer systems.” J. Environ. Manage., 114, 72–83.
Penn, R., Schütze, M., and Friedler, E. (2014). “Assessment of the effects of greywater reuse on gross solids movement in sewer systems.” Water Sci. Technol., 69(1), 99–105.
Rydén, L., and Karlsson, I. (2012). Rural development and land use, Baltic University Programme, Uppsala Univ., Uppsala, Sweden.
Sitzenfrei, R., and Rauch, W. (2014). “Investigating transitions of centralized water infrastructure to decentralized solutions—An integrated approach.” Procedia Eng., 70, 1549–1557.
Statistics Sweden. (2009). Småorter Och Tätorter 1960–2005, Statistiska Centralbyrån, Stockholm, Sweden.
Statistics Sweden. (2012). Småorter 2010, Statistiska Centralbyrån, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stransky, D., Kabelkova, I., Bares, V., Zdenek, N., and Stastna, G. (2014). “Assessment of the theoretical heat recovery potential from wastewater in sewer systems.” Proc., 13th Int. Conf. on Urban Drainage, International Association for Hydraulic Research, Madrid, Spain.
SWWA (Swedish Water and Wastewater Association). (2004). Dimensionering Av Allmänna Avloppsledningar, Svenskt Vatten, Stockholm, Sweden.
SWWA (Swedish Water and Wastewater Association). (2013). Vårt Vatten, Stockholm, Sweden.
Thackray, J., Cocker, V., and Archibald, G. (1978). “The Malvern and Mansfield studies of domestic water usage.” Proc., ICE Proc., Thomas Telford, London, 37–61.
Villarreal, E. L., and Dixon, A. (2005). “Analysis of a rainwater collection system for domestic water supply in Ringdansen, Norrköping, Sweden.” Build. Environ., 40(9), 1174–1184.
Wanner, O., Panagiotidis, V., Clavadetscher, P., and Siegrist, H. (2005). “Effect of heat recovery from raw wastewater on nitrification and nitrogen removal in activated sludge plants.” Water Res., 39(19), 4725–4734.
Wong, L., Mui, K., and Guan, Y. (2010). “Shower water heat recovery in high-rise residential buildings of Hong Kong.” Appl. Energy, 87(2), 703–709.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 1 • March 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 16, 2015
Accepted: May 5, 2017
Published online: Sep 23, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 23, 2018
Published in print: Mar 1, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.