Print Email Facebook Twitter A comparative study between low- and high-tech methods for the detection and mitigation of illicit connections in stormwater systems Title A comparative study between low- and high-tech methods for the detection and mitigation of illicit connections in stormwater systems Author Schilperoort, Remy (Partners4UrbanWater) Post, Johan (Partners4UrbanWater) Klootwijk, Martijn (Municipality of Breda) Hoefeijzers, Bas (Municipality of Breda) Hof, Arjo (Municipality of Almere) Palsma, Bert (STOWA) Leenen, Imke (H2Oké Water & Health Consultancy) Makris, Konstantinos F. (Partners4UrbanWater) Langeveld, J.G. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering; Partners4UrbanWater) Date 2023 Abstract Illicit connections of wastewater to stormwater systems are the main drawback of separate sewer systems, as they lead to a direct discharge of untreated wastewater to the aquatic environment. Consequently, several inspection methods have been developed for detecting illicit connections. This study simultaneously applied several low- and high-tech methods for the detection of illicit connections in the same catchment (De Heuvel, the Netherlands). The methods included mesh wire screens for capturing coarse contamination, measurements of electroconductivity and temperature, sampling and quantification of Escherichia coli and extended-spectrum ß-lactamase-producing E. coli (ESBL-EC), DNA analysis via quantitative polymerase chain reaction for human-, dog-, and bird-specific fecal indicators, and distributed temperature sensing. Significant illicit connections could be identified using all methods. Nonetheless, hydraulic conditions and, predominantly, the sewage volume determine whether a misconnection can be detected by especially the low-tech methods. Using these results, the identified misconnections were repaired and biological and DNA analyses were repeated. Our results demonstrate that there were no changes in E. coli or ESBL-EC before and after mitigation, suggesting that these common markers of fecal contamination are not specific enough to evaluate the performance of mitigation efforts. However, a marked decrease in human wastewater markers (HF183) was observed. Subject BacteroidesconductivityDTSE. coliESBL-ECillicit connections To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ff2acc59-10f2-4a4f-8315-07061d3f4f21 DOI https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2023.309 ISSN 0273-1223 Source Water Science and Technology, 88 (7), 1833-1846 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 Remy Schilperoort, Johan Post, Martijn Klootwijk, Bas Hoefeijzers, Arjo Hof, Bert Palsma, Imke Leenen, Konstantinos F. Makris, J.G. Langeveld, More Authors Files PDF wst088071833.pdf 1.09 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:ff2acc59-10f2-4a4f-8315-07061d3f4f21/datastream/OBJ/view