Wastewater treatment plants are large non-linear systems subject to large perturbations in wastewater flow rate, load and composition. Nevertheless these plants have to be operated continuously, meeting stricter and stricter regulations. Many control strategies have been proposed in the literature for improved and more efficient operation of wastewater treatment plants. Unfortunately, their evaluation and comparison - either practical or based on simulation - is difficult. This is partly due to the variability of the influent, to the complexity of the biological and biochemical phenomena and to the large range of time constants (from a few minutes to several days). The lack of standard evaluation criteria is also a tremendous disadvantage. To really enhance the acceptance of innovative control strategies, such an evaluation needs to be based on a rigorous methodology including a simulation model, plant layout, controllers, sensors, performance criteria and test procedures, i.e. a complete benchmarking protocol. This book is a Scientific and Technical Report produced by the IWA Task Group on Benchmarking of Control Strategies for Wastewater Treatment Plants. The goal of the Task Group includes developing models and simulation tools that encompass the most typical unit processes within a wastewater treatment system (primary treatment, activated sludge, sludge treatment, etc.), as well as tools that will enable the evaluation of long-term control strategies and monitoring tasks (i.e. automatic detection of sensor and process faults). Work on these extensions has been carried out by the Task Group during the past five years, and the main results are summarized in Benchmarking of Control Strategies for Wastewater Treatment Plants. Besides a description of the final version of the already well-known Benchmark Simulation Model no. 1 (BSM1), the book includes the Benchmark Simulation Model no. 1 Long-Term (BSM1_LT) - with focus on benchmarking of process monitoring tasks - and the plant-wide Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2). Authors: Krist V. Gernaey, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark, Ulf Jeppsson, Lund University, Sweden, Peter A. Vanrolleghem, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada and John B. Copp, Primodal Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Scientific and Technical Report No. 21 Uncertainty in Wastewater Treatment Design and Operation aims to facilitate the transition of the wastewater profession to the probabilistic use of simulators with the associated benefits of being better able to take advantage of opportunities and manage risk. There is a paradigm shift taking place in the design and operation of treatment plants in the water industry. The market is currently in transition to use modelling and simulation while still using conventional heuristic guidelines (safety factors). Key reasons for transition include: wastewater treatment simulation software advancements; stricter effluent requirements that cannot be designed for using traditional approaches, and increased pressure for more efficient designs (including energy efficiency, green house gas emission control). There is increasing consensus among wastewater professionals that the performance of plants and the predictive power of their models (degree of uncertainty) is a critical component of plant design and operation. However, models and simulators used by designers and operators do not incorporate methods for the evaluation of uncertainty associated with each design. Thus, engineers often combine safety factors with simulation results in an arbitrary way based on designer ‘experience’. Furthermore, there is not an accepted methodology (outside modelling) that translates uncertainty to assumed opportunity or risk and how it is distributed among consultants/contractors and owners. Uncertainty in Wastewater Treatment Design and Operation documents how uncertainty, opportunity and risk are currently handled in the wastewater treatment practice by consultants, utilities and regulators. The book provides a useful set of terms and definitions relating to uncertainty and promotes an understanding of the issues and terms involved. It identifies the sources of uncertainty in different project phases and presents a critical review of the available methods. Real-world examples are selected to illustrate where and when sources of uncertainty are introduced and how models are implemented and used in design projects and in operational optimisation. Uncertainty in Wastewater Treatment Design and Operation defines the developments required to provide improved procedures and tools to implement uncertainty and risk evaluations in projects. It is a vital reference for utilities, regulators, consultants, and trained management dealing with certainty, opportunity and risk in wastewater treatment.  

Special Offer: Water Framework Directive Series Set Click here to buy all four titles including Volume 3 and Save GBP100! Decision Support for Water Framework Directive Implementation: Volume 3 is a concrete outcome from the Harmoni-CA concerted action as part of a 4-volume series of Guidance Reports that guide water professionals through the implementation process of the Water Framework Directive, with a focus on the use of ICT-tools (and in particular modelling). They are complementary to the Guidance Documents produced by the EU Directorate General for Environment. Water resources planning and management and the development of appropriate policies require methodologies and tools that are able to support systematic, integrative and multidisciplinary assessments at various scales. It also requires the quantification of various uncertainties in both data and models, and the incorporation of stakeholders participation and institutional mechanisms into the various tools and risk assessment methodologies, to help decision makers understand and evaluate alternative measures and decisions. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/IntegratedAssessmentforWaterFrameworkDirectiveImplementation The other three volumes in the Water Framework Directive Series are: Water Framework Directive: Model supported Implementation - A Water Manager's Guide edited by Fred Hattermann and Zbigniew W Kundzewicz Modelling Aspects of Water Framework Directive Implementation - Volume 1 edited by Prof. Peter A. Vanrolleghem Integrated Assessment for WFD implementation: Data, economic and human dimension - Volume 2 edited by Peter A. Vanrolleghem

Special Offer: Water Framework Directive Series Set To buy all four titles including Volume 3 and save GBP100, visit: http://www.iwapublishing.com/books/9781780400013/water-framework-directive-series-set Implementing the comprehensive Water Framework Directive requires a thorough planning process that consists of several consecutive steps. The least one can say is that it is a challenging task which needs appropriate ICT tools that are able to cope with the complexity of the water system and this planning process. Integrated assessment, participatory processes and the science-policy interface are one of the newer elements in this overall implementation process that have developed greatly thanks to the WFD. Economic methods, models and instruments are integrative to the WFD implementation as well, with such concepts as cost recovery of water resources being central to debate with stakeholders. Economic valuation of natural resources (willingness-to-pay, willingness-to-accept, ...) should get sufficient attention and the human dimension (perception, needs, wants, values and behaviours) should be incorporated in the modelling frameworks for decision-making. In the same line there is also a human dimension to the use of models: how do non-modellers, such as managers, policy-makers, other stakeholders feel about models and their use in their day-to-day activities. And finally, this volume deals with the large issue of data: its quality, availability and, not to forget, accessibility. And can we use data both for monitoring purposes (surveillance, operational and investigative in the WFD context) and for modelling. Is there a synergy to be found? These tasks, the underlying concepts, methods, tools and procedures are the subject of this volume. The other three volumes in the Water Framework Directive Series are: Water Framework Directive: Model supported Implementation - A Water Manager's Guide edited by Fred Hattermann and Zbigniew W Kundzewicz Modelling Aspects of Water Framework Directive Implementation - Volume 1 edited by Prof. Peter A. Vanrolleghem Decision Support for WFD implementation - Volume 3, edited by Peter A. Vanrolleghem Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/IntegratedAssessmentforWaterFrameworkDirectiveImplementation

Special Offer: Water Framework Directive Series Set. To buy all four titles including Volume 3 and save GBP100, visit: http://iwapublishing.com/books/9781780400013/water-framework-directive-series-set Modelling Aspects of Water Framework Directive Implementation: Volume 1 is a concrete outcome from the Harmoni-CA concerted action as part of a 4-volume series of Guidance Reports that guide water professionals through the implementation process of the Water Framework Directive, with a focus on the use of ICT-tools (and in particular modelling). They are complementary to the Guidance Documents produced by the EU Directorate General for Environment. Water resources planning and management and the development of appropriate policies require methodologies and tools that are able to support systematic, integrative and multidisciplinary assessments at various scales. It also requires the quantification of various uncertainties in both data and models, and the incorporation of stakeholders participation and institutional mechanisms into the various tools and risk assessment methodologies, to help decision makers understand and evaluate alternative measures and decisions. The other three volumes in the Water Framework Directive Series are: Water Framework Directive: Model supported Implementation - A Water Manager's Guide edited by Fred Hattermann and Zbigniew W Kundzewicz Integrated Assessment for WFD implementation: Data, economic and human dimension - Volume 2, edited by Peter A. Vanrolleghem Decision support for WFD implementation - Volume 3, edited by Peter A. Vanrolleghem. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/IntegratedAssessmentforWaterFrameworkDirectiveImplementation

This Report synthesizes the main results obtained throughout the ADVISOR research project ("Integrated Evaluation for Sustainable River Basin Governance") funded by the European Commission, under the - 'Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development' theme of the 5th Framework Research Programme. The aim of ADVISOR was to improve the understanding of evaluation processes as part of river basin planning and management and to provide a framework supported by a toolkit for the conduct of integrated and participatory evaluations. The project comprised four work-packages. Work Package 1 examined past water project or plan evaluation cases in five EU states and drew insights on the problems of past evaluation practices. Work Package 2 interpreted these past experiences from different analytical angles leading to a theory for an integrated evaluation process, emphasising issues of deliberation, multiple values, quality in the use of information and governance. Work Package 3 moved from theory to practice. Different tools which could contribute to integrated evaluation processes were tested in experimental case applications. These included scenario workshops, mediated modelling supported by a quality assurance protocol, social multi-criteria evaluation, cost-effectiveness analyses and monetary valuation. Work Package 4 aimed at transferring the experience and lessons learned during the ADVISOR project to policy makers, contributing especially to the implementation process of the Water Framework Directive. A guidance document for designing and implementing Integrated Deliberative Decision Processes (IDDP) was developed, detailing a step-by-step procedure to achieve integrated evaluations. The synthesis of the main results achieved throughout the ADVISOR project is presented in this report in three parts: Part A sets the stage for the role of integrated evaluations in river basin planning and management; Part B unfolds the set of relevant principles and tools developed in the project and Part C concludes with futures challenges for integrated evaluation processes.

Environmental quality is becoming an increasing concern in our society. In that context, waste and wastewater treatment, and more specifically biological wastewater treatment processes play an important role. In this book, we concentrate on the mathematical modelling of these processes. The main purpose is to provide the increasing number of professionals who are using models to design, optimise and control wastewater treatment processes with the necessary background for their activities of model building, selection and calibration. The book deals specifically with dynamic models because they allow us to describe the behaviour of treatment plants under the highly dynamic conditions that we want them to operate (e.g. Sequencing Batch Reactors) or we have to operate them (e.g. storm conditions, spills). Further extension is provided to new reactor systems for which partial differential equation descriptions are necessary to account for their distributed parameter nature (e.g. settlers, fixed bed reactors). The model building exercise is introduced as a step-wise activity that, in this book, starts from mass balancing principles. In many cases, different hypotheses and their corresponding models can be proposed for a particular process. It is therefore essential to be able to select from these candidate models in an objective manner. To this end, structure characterisation methods are introduced. Important sections of the book deal with the collection of high quality data using optimal experimental design, parameter estimation techniques for calibration and the on-line use of models in state and parameter estimators. Contents Dynamical Modelling Dynamical Mass Balance Model Building and Analysis Structure Characterisation (SC) Structural Identifiability Practical Identifiability and Optimal Experiment Design for Parameter Estimation (OED/PE) Estimation of Model Parameters Recursive State and Parameter Estimation Glossary Nomenclature