Environment Agency, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AH, UK.
Environment Agency, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AH, UK.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Aug;366:121596. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121596. Epub 2024 Jul 10.
We developed a biomarker-based approach to quantify in-sewer dilution by measuring wastewater quality parameters (ammoniacal-N, orthophosphate, crAssphage). This approach can enhance the environmental management of wastewater treatment works (WWTW) by optimising their operation and providing cost-effective information on the health and behaviour of populations and their interactions with the environment through wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Our method relies on site specific baselines calculated for each biomarker. These baselines reflect the sewer conditions without the influence of rainfall-derived inflow and infiltration (RDII). Ammoniacal-N was the best candidate to use as proxy for dilution. We demonstrated that the dilution calculated using biomarkers correlates well with the dilution indicated by measured flow. In some instances, the biomarkers showed much higher dilution than measured flows. These differences were attributed to the loss of flow volume at wastewater treatment works due to the activation of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and/or storm tanks. Using flow measured directly at the WWTW could therefore result in underestimation of target analyte loads.
我们开发了一种基于生物标志物的方法来量化污水中的稀释程度，方法是测量废水质量参数（氨氮、正磷酸盐、crAssphage）。这种方法可以通过优化污水处理厂的运行来加强对废水的环境管理，并通过基于废水的流行病学（WBE）提供有关人群健康和行为及其与环境相互作用的具有成本效益的信息。我们的方法依赖于为每个生物标志物计算的特定于地点的基线。这些基线反映了没有雨水入流和渗透（RDII）影响的下水道条件。氨氮是用作稀释剂的最佳候选物。我们证明，使用生物标志物计算的稀释度与测量流量指示的稀释度密切相关。在某些情况下，生物标志物显示的稀释度远高于测量的流量。这些差异归因于污水处理厂因联合下水道溢流（CSO）和/或暴雨水箱的激活而导致的流量损失。因此，直接在污水处理厂测量流量可能会导致目标分析物负荷的低估。
