Optimisation of control strategies for the urban wastewater system - an integrated approach

Currently, the sewer system, treatment plant and receiving water body are normally considered as separate units in water quality management. The study reported in this paper analyses the potential of integrated control of the urban wastewater system in its entirety. Assembly and implementation of an integrated simulation and optimisation tool, named SYNOPSIS, are presented. This software package allows water quantity and quality processes in the urban wastewater system to be simulated. Furthermore, optimisation modules included in this tool can be applied for off-line optimisation of control strategies. This procedure is exemplified for a semi-hypothetical case study site. Results obtained for this case study suggest that integrated control of the urban wastewater system can indeed lead to some improvement of its performance. This study demonstrates that a tool is now available for assessment of the potential of integrated control.