Management of combined sewer overflows based on observations from the urbanized Liguori catchment of Cosenza, Italy

Abstract

This paper examines an urbanized catchment in Cosenza, Italy where an off-line basin intercepting CSOs was studied to illustrate reduction in CSO discharges to the Crati River. While the hydrologic transport of pollutant mass is never known a-priori and can be flow-limited, the volumetric requirements of the basin were modeled based on the classic assumption that wet weather flows transport urban and sewer loads in a mass-limited (first-flush) delivery. The volumetric capacity of the basin was varied from 10 to 50 m3/ha. Operational basin control was simulated with historical datasets from the Liguori catchment, event-based loading data, and continuous simulation modelling with SWMM. Utilizing data from the catchment, the SWMM simulations were conducted considering the storage basin with or without sedimentation treatment. Results illustrate the potential benefits of the off-line operation for the system with respect to the volume and mass reduction of CSOs into the Crati River. Results demonstrate the importance of particle size distribution (PSD) as an index of basin efficiency, coupled with analysis of the hydrodynamic response of the basin. The basin model attenuated influent PSDs, separating the coarser fraction of the PSD, and reduced the load of influent particulate matter (PM).