Radar-aided CSO-control-criteria for an ecological approach

The control strategy of a combined sewer system incorporating three stormwater storage tanks with overflows presented here attempts to consider all aspects of acute CSO effects. These are the hydraulic and the composition components as well as the time factor. The result is an integrated approach, which is not based on the classic emission view (i.e. reduction of volume), but on pollution criteria (i.e. possible harm to the biotic community). The aim is to reduce the exceeding of critical peak values of the CSO components at critical time intervals.

Control decisions will be based on continuous measurements in the sewer system and in the receiving stream. Furthermore the measurements are carried out to determine the effects (both hydraulic and chemical) of particular CSO discharges in order to evolve the critical values for the project area. The chemical and physical measurements are accompanied by a biological monitoring programme. Macroinvertebrates are sampled upstream and downstream of outfalls and at a reference site. This allows the evaluation of the control measures on an ecological basis, and thus an assessment of the ecological potential of radar-aided real-time control of the combined sewer systems.