A guide released by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) offers management tips to wastewater plant owners and operators to deal with sewer overflows during heavy rains. The Guide to Managing Peak Wet Weather Flows in Municipal Wastewater Collection and Treatment Systems was developed under a cooperative agreement between the U.S. EPA and WEF.
The purpose of the guide is to provide a framework for owners, planners, designers and operators of wastewater collection and treatment systems to set objectives and evaluate alternatives for managing wastewater flows during heavy rains.
The guide offers management tips for utilities to implement EPA’s proposed peak weather discharge policy, which was issued in December 2005. If adopted as proposed, the December policy would require wastewater utilities to identify and assess alternatives to blending fully and partially treated wastewater prior to discharge from a plan into lakes, rivers and streams during heavy rains.