Transformation of wastewater in sewer systems - A review

Many chemical, physical and biological transformations of wastewater in sewer systems may take place and cause significant changes in the composition during transportation. This paper focuses on the methods for measuring changes in wastewater composition (organic matter, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur compounds), characteristics for changes in wastewater composition and empirical equations for oxygen uptake rates, sulfide production rates and BOD removal rates in both pressure mains and gravity sewers. Simple and more complicated biofilm models are evaluated for use in sewer systems, but so far no suitable advanced model for sewer biofilms exists, due to a lack of quantitative information about the transformations in such high-loaded multispecies biofilms.