The study “Trace pollutants in combined sewer overflows” provides an overview on the input of trace substances (organic or inorganic trace substances) to surface waters during combined sewer overflows (CSO). The study outlines substance pathways, types of substances, expected loads as well as possible impacts on the receiving water. The study shall aid the discussion and further handling of trace substances within the project Monitor-1, which is currently carried out at the Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB). The study has identified more than 300 substances, which could reach the Berlin surface water bodies via CSO. Moreover, it is assumed that there is a large number of substances and metabolites, which are still unknown. Sewage-related substances in combined sewers can stem from: household products (e.g. surfactants from cleaning agents), leaching (e.g. amines from textile colours or Bisphenol A from plastic coatings), wash-off of cosmetic products (e.g. Benzophenone-3 from sunblocks) or health lotions, excretion of ingested products (e.g. the pain killer Diclofenac). Stormwater-related substances in combined sewers can stem from abrasion from car and railway traffic (e.g. cadmium from break lining abrasion), erosion of building materials (e.g. copper from eaves gutters), application (e.g. glyphosate for weed control on pavements) or atmospheric deposition (e.g. polychlorinated dibenzofurans from exhaust fumes). In the framework of this study available substance data was assembled, containing: general information like synonyms and CAS-No., chemical properties, elimination rate in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), observed concentrations in surface waters and toxicity. A complete list of the substances as well as selected substance properties is attached in table A6 (Appendix). Some of these substances can be used as tracers to distinguish different pollution pathways to surface waters. Suitable indicators should enter surface waters mainly via one pathway, their half-life in surface waters should be sufficiently long, concentrations should show no seasonal fluctuations and they should be well-measurable. For instance, caffeine is a good indicator for inflows of untreated sewage via CSO, as it is very well degraded in WWTP. As an indicator for treated sewage the almost nondegradable anti-epileptic Carbamazepine could be used. Finally, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) could be used as indicator for stormwater-related pollution. In road traffic, PAHs result from incomplete combustion processes, adsorb on atmospheric particles, deposit on the surface and are washed off by rainfall runoff. In this study the relevance of the path “CSO” for trace substance emissions from the Berlin wastewater system in comparison to the other paths (storm drainage and WWTP) was assessed. Therefore, a simple balance of the fraction of CSO in total emissions to the Berlin surface waters was carried out. The balance was based on the annual volumes of WWTP effluents, storm drainage and CSO. Due to a lack in substancespecific measurement information the balance was calculated dependent on the elimination rate of substances in WWTPs. Based on the resulting figures A, B, C, D and E the fraction of CSO in total loads to the Berlin surface waters can be assessed for each substance with known elimination rate in WWTPs. In the study we distinguished between: (i) sewage related substances / stormwater related substances, (ii) balance area „Berlin total“ (5 WWTPs with 622,000 m³/d, 97 km2 combined sewer system, 231 km2 storm drainage system) / balance area „Berlin city centre“ (60% of the WWTP Münchehofe with 39,000 m³/d, 83 km2 combined sewer system, 112 km2 storm drainage system) and (iii) total annual loads / event based loads.

Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is the process of collecting and storing rainwater for a later use. This technique could be an alternative water source in response of a climate change context. In this review, the state of this practice worldwide was studied. Some discrepancies between countries have been highlighted. First, between developed and developing countries, gaps concerning techniques and regarding the main purposes (water savings for the first ones and drinking purposes for the last ones) were reported. Then, within developed countries themselves, acceptance and standards of RWH installations are different, with precise guidelines and norms for countries leading the way on RWH practices. The scale of applications (RWH for households – up to 50 inhabitants, for large buildings and for urban area) is discussed and the state of the technique showed that there were more potential of technological development and challenges for large scale systems than for households. Finally, this report draws the attention to the needs in terms of Research and Development projects. Six main aspects were highlighted: drinking water, energy compensation, environmental impacts, economical aspects and the integration of stormwater management and rainwater harvesting. The last feature concerns hygienic aspect, but the report do not focus on this consideration.

Dr. Schumacher Ingenieurbüro für Wasser und Umwelt wurde im Rahmen des Projektes SAM-CSO beauftragt, eine Langzeitsimulation der hydraulischen Verhältnisse in der Stauhaltung Charlottenburg (Spree und Kanäle) für die Abflussjahre 2002 bis 2007 durchzuführen. Diese Simulation erfolgt mit der Software HYDRAX und ist die Grundlage für die Simulation der Gewässergüteprozesse, die dann mit der Software QSIM durchgeführt wird. Da bisher im Rahmen des Projektes eine Gewässergütesimulation lediglich für den September 2005 erfolgte (Fokus auf 2 Starkregenereignisse mit Mischwasserüberlauf), konnten noch keine allgemeinen Aussagen zur Güte der Simulation des Gewässerbasiszustandes über längere Zeiträume getroffen werden. Die Simulation des Basiszustandes (unter Vernachlässigung der Mischwassereinleitungen) und die Anpassung des Modells an die Berliner Gewässerverhältnisse ist ein wichtiger Schritt, bevor die spezifische Situation während Mischwasserüberlauf betrachtet werden kann. Zusammenfassend ist festzuhalten, dass nach Korrektur der Zuflüsse über die Spree eine in Bezug auf den Referenzpegel Sophienwerder stimmige Durchflussbilanz erreicht werden konnte. Die aufgrund der instationären Berechnung verbleibende Bilanzdifferenz spiegelt gut das (im Vergleich zu den Stauhaltungen Mühlendamm/Kleinmachnow, Spandau oder Brandenburg mit ihren großen Seen) geringe Retentionsvermögen der Stauhaltung Charlottenburg wider. Unter Berücksichtigung der Messunsicherheit werden auch die Wasserstände für alle Durchflussverhältnisse in guter, für die anschließende Gütesimulation mit mehr als hinreichender Genauigkeit, berechnet. Hingewiesen sei darauf, dass bei einer Änderung der Zuflusssumme, z.B. durch die Berücksichtigung der bisher inaktiv gesetzten Mischwassereinleitungen, auch ein erneuter Bilanzausgleich vorgenommen werden sollte, da der Stauhaltung derzeit die vernachlässigten Größen indirekt über die Korrektur der Spreezuflüsse im Rahmen des Bilanzausgleichs zufließen. Folgerung für das Projekt: (i) Die Grundlage (Hydraulik) für die Gewässergütesimulation des Basiszustandes der Spree liegt nun vor. (ii) Die Gewässergütesimulation wird in Abstimmung mit Herrn Dr. Schumacher am KWB durchgeführt. Es erfolgt eine Identifikation, welche in QSIM simulierten Prozesse an die Berliner Situation angepasst werden müssen und in welcher Weise. (iii) Daraufhin erfolgt die Anpassung in Kooperation mit der BfG (Herrn Kirchesch).

Riverbank Filtration (RBF) is a valuable method for the (pre-)treatment of surface water for drinking water production. It has successfully been used in different parts of Europe for more than one century. The main intention of work package 5.2 of the TECHNEAU integrated project is to analyze the function and relevance of Riverbank Filtration (RBF) to enable sustainable water resources management, especially in developing and newly industrialized countries. A review on the attenuation capacity of RBF with a main focus on the significance for developing and newly industrialized countries is given in the D 5.2.3. This report (D 5.2.6) provides an overview on pathogen and organic trace compound content in water samples from the three TECHNEAU riverbank filtration (RBF) sites in Delhi, India. It is a follow up of the D 5.2.1 report that gives an introduction to the studies in Delhi, including regional information to water stressed mega city, environmental conditions at the three field sites and a summary of the hydrogeological investigations. Further information on hydrogeochemistry including inorganic ions (major ions, heavy metals and inorganic trace substabnces) and physicochemical parameters was submitted in D 5.2.2. The data published in this report represents water samples that have been collected during several field campaigns between May 2007 and March 2008 and analysed in different laboratories in India and Europe. Microbiological analysis includes faecal bacteria and indicator bacteria, bacteriophages and enteric viruses. For the analysis of organic contaminants, a non target GC-MS screening was performed as well as a quantitative analysis of pesticides and other trace pollutants.

In combined sewer systems domestic, trade and industrial waste water and in case of rainfall events significant volumes of storm water are collected and transported to wastewater treatment plants (wwtp). In the frame of this study a literature review on the impact of combined water inflow on wastewater treatment and the identification of critical system processes and parameters has been carried out. The objective of this work was to study the possibilities of an optimal charging of wwtps during rain and to analyse in how far those concepts could be transferred to Berlin plants. When the inflow of combined sewage to the wwtp increases, screening waste increases, too. However, this is no problem if the screening capacity is sufficient. In the primary settler the formation of primary sludge increases due to the higher inflow load. Concerning dissolved substances there can be an adverse effect when the highly concentrated content of the primary settler is pushed into the biological tanks. To ensure a reliable separation of the primary sludge a hydraulic residence time of 30 minutes is recommended. In literature, the processes of nitrification, biological P removal and the separation of the activated sludge in the final clarifier have been identified as being most critical during combined water inflow. Usually, effluent concentrations of the critical parameters increase only at the beginning of a rain event. Due to the dilution effect that typically can be observed after a maximum duration of 2 hours the concentrations then keep constant again. The process of biological P elimination can be supplemented by chemical P precipitation to avoid critical effluent concentrations during combined water inflow. In the aerated zone the oxygen content can be regulated to improve P incorporation. In the past, in Germany combined water inflow to the wwtp was limited to 2*Qwastewater+Qinfiltration (according to the standard ATV-A 131, 1991). However, the treatment capacity of wwtps that have been designed according to ATV-A 131 (1991) may exceed this value. According to the standard ATV-DVWK-A 198 an inflow of 3-6 times the average dry weather flow may be possible. In literature it can be found that factors of 3 to max. 4 have been realized successfully. Hence, in praxis the peak factor for combined water inflow is rather in the lower range given in ATV-DVWK-A 198. In Berlin the approach given in ATV-DVWK-A 198 will not be applicable. Since wastewater transport is realised via long pressure mains the dilution by stormwater reaches the wwtps only after 5-10 hours. In contrary to wwtps that are directly connected to a gravity sewer system, this Berlin situation leads to long-lasting disturbances of the processes in the activated sludge tanks and in the final clarifiers. However, it must be mentioned that only few information was available on the behavior of the Berlin wwtps during combined water inflow (mainly inflow data). At some wwtps (Stahnsdorf and Ruhleben) an adapted sporadic increase of the inflow rates during rain may be possible. The “bypass process” and an adapted oxygen regulation may be further interesting options for the management of combined water at the wwtp. However, the “bypassprocess” has not yet been tested in situations with long-lasting (5-10 hours) high load situations. The most important options for the reduction of combined water overflows in Berlin will still be the unsealing of currently impervious surfaces, the reconfiguration of the combined sewer system into a modified system (preventing stormwater to enter the combined sewer), the prevention of stormwater inflow into the sanitary sewers of the separate system and the construction and (real-time) control of storage capacities within the combined sewer system. In the future it would be desirable to charge the Berlin wwtps in accordance to their actual capacities based on measurement information. Thus, an optimisation between combined water treatment (reduction of combined water overflows) and the capacity and resilience of the plant could be realised. Therefore, a system for the assessment of the actual capacity of a wwtp (nitrification, final clarification) would be needed.

Odours emerging from sewage networks are unpleasant, can cause health impacts on sewer workers and impair public perception of the operator companies. Corrosion is one of the causes for the cost of repairs for damages to wastewater systems in the public sewage network, which are rising extremely [DWA, 2004]. Both phenomena can have their origin in biogenic acid corrosion that is illustrated in this report. The Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin (KWB) commissioned the Technical University Berlin and the Material Testing Institute of Berlin-Brandenburg to give a report on: • State of the art on control systems for odours and corrosion problems in sewer networks, (i) State of the art on sensor technologies for water, gas and corrosion parameters to follow corrosion and H2S production, (ii) Investigation on the feasibility to develop a three-phase model to predict the mass transfer of H2S from water to the gas phase and to the wall of the pipe through the biofilm and (iii) Elaboration of a draft of the functional and technical specifications for a sewer network pilot plant.

Within the project SAM-CSO it shall be tested if the Open Modelling Interface and Environment (OpenMI) can be applied to link models of the Berlin sewerage (modelled in the urban drainage software InfoWorks CS,Wallingford Software) to a river water quality model. This report gives an overview on the OpenMI and its application. Chapter 1 outlines the general background of integrated water management and integrated modelling as it is aimed at by the European Water Framework Directive. The development process, which resulted in the release of the OpenMI is summarized in chapter 2. An introduction to the objectives, the concept and the technology of the OpenMI is given in chapter 3. Chapter 4 lists case studies in which the OpenMI has been applied. In Appendix B, each of the reported studies has been described in generalized form. A matrix showing all model links, which have been established within the case studies, has been developed. Finally, in chapter 5, an overview on other model linking approaches is given. This report shows that in many use cases the Open Modelling Interface could be used successfully for model linking. Even out of Europe, at a workshop of the U.S. EPA it is stated that, in terms of the ability to go between different temporal and spatial scales, a framework such as OpenMI might have the necessary flexibility. Actually, it was found that in many cases models of the InfoWorks software family have been part of the OpenMI linked systems. In cases of many interaction points between models, the OpenMI mechanism may not be applicable. In the Berlin case the impact of combined sewer overflows on the water quality of the receiving river shall be examined. With far less than a hundred interaction points between sewer model and river model it is assumed that the OpenMI could be used for a successful model linking. The difficulty within the SAM-CSO project may be to find an apropriate river quality model, which is ready to be linked to InfoWorks CS using the OpenMI. Unfortunately, there are few use cases reported in which a freely available river water quality model was involved. The water quality model QSIM of the German Institute of Hydrology (BfG) that is used within the project is currently not equipped with OpenMI. Nevertheless, using the OpenMI mechanism for model linking is assumed to be a promising approach. It is expected to become an internationally accepted standard. As the OpenMI specification is fully free, anyone may contribute to its further development. The OpenMI Association will give advice to modellers and will be open to discussions on improvement of the OpenMI. With the OpenMI linking mechanism not only models can be linked. Modules for calibration, optimization, statistical evaluation etc. can be part of an OpenMI system as well as components for generic data access or visualization. It will be tested, if the integration of such a module for statistical evaluation into the CSO impact assessment method (to be developed within the project SAM-CSO) is applicable and useful.