The purpose of this paper is to address environmental and social Justice in stormwater settings. This is achieved through partnerships that cities, non-profit organizations, and technical experts bring to the successful development and implementation of stormwater projects with focus in disadvantaged communities. Today more than ever all infrastructure projects including those in disadvantaged communities require broad support from communities to come to fruition. Although ideas are brought forward from many interested parties, it takes a strong partnership among non-profit organizations who know communities, cities, and technical experts to deliver results. For many years, strong partnerships have helped to weave equity and social justice into stormwater projects to bring multi-benefit solutions to underserved communities.

A prototype was evaluated for on-site wastewater treatment and water reclamation using treatment wetlands in Mexico City. Two replicates of the prototype were tested over 16 months. The systems were co-designed by participants and a communications and engagement strategy was developed to accompany them throughout the study. The systems demonstrated stable and robust performance and complied with water reuse standards, allowing for safe crop irrigation. Overall, the prototype facilitated on-site treatment and safe water reuse. Further, the users remained engaged throughout the study and the systems are still in use at the time of submission of this technical paper. Further research is needed to reduce maturation time, address maintenance issues, and improve user-friendliness. Long-term studies are necessary to understand changes in removal rates due to potential saturations in the treatment wetlands. Overall, the prototype showed promise as decentralized wastewater treatment systems in similar geographic and climatic conditions.

Due to extreme (non-perc) soil conditions, the rural Alabama Black Belt region is characterized as a wastewater crisis. While ongoing research efforts are investigating new decentralized wastewater technologies in these communities, how to choose cost-effective technologies and manage these systems is not well understood. This study (1) examines the effectiveness of a hybrid evapotranspiration-lateral flow sand filter as a potential treatment solution, and (2) identifies the most feasible scale of responsible management for sustainable operations and maintenance. Two pilot-scale sand filter hybrids were built to test effluent disposal and treatment efficacy. A mixed-method analysis is performed on 117 survey responses from public and private management entities, coupled with eight semi-structured interviews. Results show the cost-effectiveness of the built treatment system, as well as participants’ preferences for countyand regional- management scales that consider communities’ capacity and needs. Our assessment highlights policy areas for addressing wastewater challenges in rural, underserved communities

This manuscript discusses the actions taken by the Village of Buzzards Bay (a part of the Town of Bourne, Massachusetts) to actively decentralize their collection system by constructing their own localized wastewater treatment facility (WWTF). Although the Town was able to continue its partnership with a regional WWTF, local awareness of key planning issues related to climate change, resiliency, and energy efficiency, in addition to a need for wastewater capacity, become more prevalent – all against a backdrop of major water quality concerns related to nitrogen in the coastal waters of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay. The completed project demonstrates an approach to improve resiliency, sustainability, and to support local development in an area where coastal water quality and wastewater capacity issues are major challenges. Overall, the message of this project emphasizes the need to evolve the traditional ideals of wastewater planning to include modern approaches that address the specific challenges of the area in question.

The purpose of this paper is to address environmental and social Justice in stormwater settings. This is achieved through partnerships that cities, non-profit organizations, and technical experts bring to the successful development and implementation of stormwater projects with focus in disadvantaged communities. Today more than ever all infrastructure projects including those in disadvantaged communities require broad support from communities to come to fruition. Although ideas are brought forward from many interested parties, it takes a strong partnership among non-profit organizations who know communities, cities, and technical experts to deliver results. For many years, strong partnerships have helped to weave equity and social justice into stormwater projects to bring multi-benefit solutions to underserved communities.

Northern Kentucky Sewer District 1 began to install and configure a continuous sewer assessment program (CSAP) in 2009 and presented their initial results at WEF Collections in 2013. SD1’s CSAP program incorporates and processes their collection system and operations data and determines reinspection schedules, maintenance schedules and priority pipes for rehabilitation. Each night, the CSAP program collects work order history, GIS inventory and inspection data, then applies two decision-making logic matrices (a maintenance-related matrices and a structural-related matrices) to recommend next steps for each pipe. The program evaluates each pipe’s risk consequence of failure scores, condition scores as well as work order and inspection history. Recommendations are presented in GIS and web-based reports. The Since 2013, they have seen a marked decline in both sewer overflows and O&M costs. They have also seen an improvement in system structural condition. They attribute the improvements to their targeted CSAP logic.

This paper describes the evolution of equipment and systems at a wastewater pumping station in a combined sewer collection system. Three major rehabilitation projects and several standalone projects have been performed since original construction in the mid1970s. Challenges have included a contractor bankruptcy, vandalism, equipment obsolescence, access constraints, and suboptimal hydraulics. Many lessons learned during the past few decades of work are presented.

Potable reuse facilities are being planned and designed using effluent from a variety of secondary treatment processes. This evaluation documents higher concentrations and higher variability in non-nitrifying facilities for several key parameters for potable reuse design, including total organic carbon (TOC), ammonia, and nitrite. For non-nitrifying plants, average TOCs ranged from 14 to 27 mg-N/L; nitrifying plants averaged 10 mg-N/L or less. Some non-nitrifying plants routinely reported nitrite concentrations above 2 mg-N/L, and even the fully nitrified facilities occasionally reported nitrite concentrations above 1 mg-N/L and ammonia concentrations above 2 mg-N/L. Plants considering potable reuse should begin monitoring TOC and nitrite to provide data for advanced treatment design. Optimization or upgrades to secondary treatment may be necessary, depending on the advanced treatment goals and requirements.

Electro-oxidation (EO) provides a method to mineralize Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) compounds, eliminating them forever. Demonstration studies for destruction of PFAS have been successfully conducted on highly concentrated waste streams, such as AFFF and landfill leachate, but most drinking water treatment plants in the US will experience lower concentrations of PFAS contaminations. In this study, conducted at a water treatment plant on surface water with PFAS concentrations in the parts per trillion range, Reverse Osmosis (RO), Foam Fractionation (FF), and Ion Exchange were used as means to remove and concentrate PFAS followed by EO. Using a concentration process prior to the EO process reduces the liquid volume needing treatment and improves energy and destruction efficiency of EO by orders of magnitude thereby reducing overall costs. The study investigated destruction of PFAS on the RO concentrate, foamate, and IX brine regenerant, including sampling and analysis of byproduct formation and transformation of PFAS compounds from longer chains to shorter chains.

The Village of Sherman, New York encountered a prevalent challenge: labor shortages, which is a widespread concern within the wastewater industry. Due to the scarcity of time and resources, the community had to maximize their equipment’s utilization. Wet wells posed a significant problem, demanding both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on a weekly basis. For nearly a century, wastewater systems have used the same technology to lift influent or stormwater from the gravity network: fill a tank, signal the drive with a float, then pump at full speed until the tank’s minimum-level float activates. It’s archaic and inefficient, creating hazardous conditions that leave caustic, disgusting, odorous liquids standing in wet wells. In January of 2018, Sherman was ready to address the issue and eliminate their influent wet well lift station and replace it with a direct in line pumping method.

PFAS are prime examples of how water recycling facilities can help break the circulation of these chemicals from the water cycle. Treatment technologies typically in use at WWTPs are ineffective for removing PFAS. While the most common technology for PFAS includes adsorptive, ion exchange, or RO membrane filtration processes, limited PFAS removal is expected across the ozone-biological activated carbon (Ozone-BAC) treatment steps within the carbon-based advanced treatment (CBAT) train. Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) is often included downstream of ozone-BAC for TOC removal. GAC provides reliable PFAS removal. However, utilizing a single GAC step for both TOC and PFAS removals may limit the full use of GAC adsorption capacity (i.e., PFAS breakthrough could occur ahead of TOC breakthrough). We will highlight our work on designing an advanced treatment train to achieve potable reuse standards, including an efficient approach for PFAS removal, and discuss the complexities of spent PFAS media management.

The NUA and Garver completed a comprehensive evaluation that assessed various alternatives including Lake augmentation from out-of-basin surface water supplies, groundwater wellfield expansion, stormwater diversion, and others. Ultimately, the evaluation pointed to water reuse as the most feasible solution for the City’s long-term water supply needs. The City then developed a phased plan for the study, piloting, and eventual permitting of a new potable reuse program. The eventual potable reuse program would be constructed to augment the Lake. Multiple trains of enhanced biological nutrient removal (BNR) were operated continuously from June of 2021 to June of 2022. Both the modified University of Cape Town and Aerobic Granular Sludge approaches were tested for capabilities to achieve low total-P and total-N effluents which could meet stringent requirements for IPR in OK.