Estimation of U.S. sewer residence time distributions for national-scale risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals
- PMID: 28641184
- DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.075
Estimation of U.S. sewer residence time distributions for national-scale risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals
Abstract
Sewer residence time (the amount of time a given volume of wastewater resides in a sewer system prior to treatment) can have a significant influence on predictions of environmental fate and transport of wastewater constituents and corresponding risk assessment. In this study, a geographic information systems-based approach for estimating the distribution of sewer residence times for the U.S. was developed using road networks as a spatial proxy for sewer networks. The suitability of the approach was evaluated using case study municipalities, and the approach was subsequently extrapolated to 3422 wastewater treatment facilities of varying size across the U.S. to estimate a national distribution of sewer residence times. The estimated national median residence time for the U.S. was 3.3h. Facilities serving smaller municipalities (<1 million gallons per day) had comparatively shorter sewer residence times to facilities serving larger municipalities, though the latter comprise a greater proportion of overall national wastewater volume. The results of this study provide an important data resource in combination with chemical in-sewer biodegradation data to enable probabilistic risk assessment of consumer product chemicals disposed of down the drain.
Keywords: GIS; Risk assessment; Sewer residence time; Wastewater.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
Mixing zone and drinking water intake dilution factor and wastewater generation distributions to enable probabilistic assessment of down-the-drain consumer product chemicals in the U.S.Sci Total Environ. 2015 Jun 15;518-519:302-9. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.02.105. Epub 2015 Mar 12. Sci Total Environ. 2015. PMID: 25770452
-
Dissolved methane in the influent of three Australian wastewater treatment plants fed by gravity sewers.Sci Total Environ. 2017 Dec 1;599-600:85-93. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.152. Epub 2017 May 3. Sci Total Environ. 2017. PMID: 28472696
-
Modeling in-sewer transformations at catchment scale - implications on drug consumption estimates in wastewater-based epidemiology.Water Res. 2017 Oct 1;122:655-668. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.034. Epub 2017 May 20. Water Res. 2017. PMID: 28651217
-
Impacts and managerial implications for sewer systems due to recent changes to inputs in domestic wastewater - A review.J Environ Manage. 2015 Sep 15;161:188-197. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.06.043. Epub 2015 Jul 13. J Environ Manage. 2015. PMID: 26182992 Review.
-
A critical review of wastewater quality variation and in-sewer processes during conveyance in sewer systems.Water Res. 2023 Jan 1;228(Pt B):119398. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119398. Epub 2022 Nov 20. Water Res. 2023. PMID: 36436409 Review.
Cited by
-
The Protective Effect of Virus Capsids on RNA and DNA Virus Genomes in Wastewater.Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Sep 19;57(37):13757-13766. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03814. Epub 2023 Sep 1. Environ Sci Technol. 2023. PMID: 37656816 Free PMC article.
-
Separating signal from noise in wastewater data: An algorithm to identify community-level COVID-19 surges in real time.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Aug;120(31):e2216021120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216021120. Epub 2023 Jul 25. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023. PMID: 37490532 Free PMC article.
-
Predicting COVID-19 Infected Individuals in a Defined Population from Wastewater RNA Data.ACS ES T Water. 2022 Nov 11;2(11):2225-2232. doi: 10.1021/acsestwater.2c00105. Epub 2022 Jul 12. ACS ES T Water. 2022. PMID: 37406033 Free PMC article.
-
Stability and WBE biomarkers possibility of 17 antiviral drugs in sewage and gravity sewers.Water Res. 2023 Jun 30;238:120023. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120023. Epub 2023 Apr 30. Water Res. 2023. PMID: 37150064 Free PMC article.
-
The role of the sewer system in estimating urban emissions of chemicals of emerging concern.Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol. 2022;21(4):957-991. doi: 10.1007/s11157-022-09638-9. Epub 2022 Oct 23. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol. 2022. PMID: 36311376 Free PMC article. Review.
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources