Dry Weather Channel Impacts on Wet Weather Combined Sewer Overflow Pollution Rates

Settling solids upstream of a CSO has led to an undesirable odor issue in warm temperatures and elevated environmental pollutant loading during the first flush period of wet weather events. Several strategies exist to ameliorate the solids discharged during the first flush period of an overflow event; with one strategy being the use of a dry weather channel. A dry weather channel (DWC) is a collection system design feature that can be used to limit and reduce solids deposition within the collection system by maintaining higher forward flow velocities during low flow while reducing the settleable surface area within the collection system for solids accumulation. This work employed a first order solids transport model from Willems (2010) to represent the settling and wash-off rates within the collection system in conjunction with the “P8 urban catchment model” from Walker (1990) to model the influent mass rate from overland flow. The model was subsequently refined to incorporate the concept of uniform settling on the wetted surfaces within the collection system. Modeling results at the CSO outflow point, when comparing the existing system to the proposed, suggest that a DWC could reduce the solids discharged from the CSO by approximately 25% annually.