Improved wet weather wastewater influent modelling at Viikinmäki WWTP by on-line weather radar information

Municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influent is typically dependent on diurnal variation of urban production of liquid waste, infiltration of stormwater runoff and groundwater infiltration. During wet weather conditions the infiltration phenomenon typically increases the risk of overflows in the sewer system as well as the risk of having to bypass the WWTP. Combined sewer infrastructure multiplies the role of rainwater runoff in the total influent. Due to climate change, rain intensity and magnitude is tending to rise as well, which can already be observed in the normal operation of WWTPs. Bypass control can be improved if the WWTP is prepared for the increase of influent, especially if there is some storage capacity prior to the treatment plant. One option for this bypass control is utilisation of on-line weather-radar-based forecast data of rainfall as an input for the on-line influent model. This paper reports the Viikinmäki WWTP wet weather influent modelling project results where gridded exceedance probabilities of hourly rainfall accumulations for the next 3 h from the Finnish Meteorological Institute are utilised as on-line input data for the influent model.