Headworks Upgrades at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant to Improve Collection System Performance

Following improvements in the collection system to increase hydraulic capacity and reduce infiltration and inflow (I/I) influences, the peak day influent flow to the City of Baltimore's Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant (BRWWTP) is expected to increase from the historical peak of 420 million gallons per day (mgd) to more than 700 mgd. New headworks and wet weather storage facilities are proposed to provide treatment and storage of flow in excess of the hydraulic capacity of the downstream plant processes. This paper provides a discussion of the evaluation and preliminary design of the new headworks facilities. Criteria defined by project stakeholders including the BRWWTP operations and maintenance staff, the City of Baltimore sanitary sewer collection system operations and maintenance staff, and the Wet Weather Consent Decree Program are discussed. The discussion focuses on the challenge of providing a design solution that satisfies the criteria defined by the various project stakeholders.