Claire Duck and David Thomas, Scottish Water, UK
Scottish Water is looking to quantify, and, where possible increase the climate change resilience of its wastewater treatment assets over the SR27 investment period and beyond. This presentation reports on a novel role, dynamic biokinetic modelling (BioWin) can play in treatment resilience assessment, using an activated sludge plant serving a population equivalent of approximately 114,600. Five climate change stress tests, derived from UK Met Office UKCP18 projections were applied to a calibrated BioWin model; extreme rainfall, prolonged dry periods, elevated wastewater temperatures, and combined “first flush” events. Model findings demonstrated adequate treatment works resilience and permit compliance under all stress scenarios. Other key findings included the effects of prolonged dry periods on nitrification and air demand; trader network contribution and the effects of storm return in storm conditions. Overall, the case study demonstrated the potential for biokinetic modelling as a tool for wastewater treatment resilience assessment on a wider scale, and its potential to help quantify the effects of extreme stress conditions such as the effects of a storm initial ‘first flush’ not yet quantified within the industry. Further development of novel network flow and load model data is required to refine the design basis for this specific biokinetic modelling.