Go Beyond Conventional Hydraulic Tools for Optimized Flow Distribution in Your Wastewater Plant

As a result of the increasingly stricter limits on effluent Total Nitrogen (TN) discharges into the East River, the Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) recently completed upgrades to Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) to treat wastewater from combined sewers in June 2012. Operation of the BNR process requires optimal primary effluent (PE) flow distribution, or percentage of flow split, to each of the four passes of the step feed secondary treatment system.Info Works CS was used to model the treatment hydraulic profiles, and to provide optimal and preventative gate settings for dry weather conditions. Gate settings for wet weather operating conditions were provided as well to ensure that a strategy to protect the nitrifying biomass from washout at elevated flows, while simultaneously preventing early secondary bypass, was available. This memorandum summarizes the background, objectives, approach, results and conclusions.