Creating space for climate adaptation through shifting to green mobility

Climate change increases the urgency of spatial adaptation to extreme heat, pluvial floods and droughts in urban areas. To accelerate climate adaptation efforts, Dutch government organisations have agreed to work towards a climate adaptive and water resilient country by 2050 in the Delta Plan on Spatial Adaptation (DPSA). The implementation of...

Assessment of Pump Failures in Rotterdam: A Five-Year Study (2016-2020): A Failure Analysis based on statistical modelling

Sewage systems hold a critical function within the fabric of urban infrastructure, primarily by ensuring efficient wastewater management. Within this network, sewage pumping stations emerge as important components. The performance of such stations is susceptible to being undermined by system failures and malfunctions, which can cause significant...

Risk-Based Sewer Asset Management: A case study assessing the risk of sewer collapse in Nissewaard, the Netherlands

This thesis examines the implementation of risk-based sewer asset management, with a specific focus on addressing the existing shortcomings in current practices. Notably, the neglect of sewer failure risks often leads to suboptimal allocation of resources. The primary aim of this research is to develop a comprehensible methodology for risk-based...

Characterizing the behavior of stormwater sediment and its impact on the performance of the storm sewer

Stormwater runoff carries solids from streets to the storm sewer and waterbodies, causing sediment accumulation, reduced hydraulic capacity and water pollution. Urban stormwater management is essential, but limited information on sediment behavior and treatment methods hinders decision-making. This study investigated sediment characteristics in...

Recreational water quality in the Breda canals

Netherlands urban canals are not designated as official bathing sites for recreation, and their water quality is not monitored routinely. The municipality of Breda has ambitious plans to ensure the recreational water quality in the Breda canals during the bathing season. <br/><br/>The purpose of this study was investigation of microbial water...

Detection of leaks: next-generation pipe inspection: Testing the FELL system under controlled field conditions

The wastewater system in the Netherlands is ageing, which increases the probability of failure of the systems as time progresses. A vital failure mechanism is leakages, which occur in leaky connections, joints, or at cracks and holes along the pipe. Eventually, leakages result in infiltration of groundwater into the sewer pipe or exfiltration of...

Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater: Factors affecting the representativeness of wastewater-based epidemiology for the monitoring of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

This thesis provides knowledge on factors affecting the representativeness of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The application of WBE to monitor health parameters has become essential due to the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. WBE is a well-known method to track the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater and is...

RTC strategy reducing the ecological impact of an urban drainage system

Urban wastewater systems can impact the urban ecology by untreated wastewater discharges through combined sewer overflow (CSO) events, or by partial treatment of the wastewater at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). CSO events can cause oxygen depletion, eutrophication, and the discharge of pathogens. The partial treatment of the wastewater...

Exploring possibilities for climate adaptation in context of the ongoing energy transition: A case-study of Rotterdam

Cities worldwide are faced with the challenge of adapting to the effects of climate change as well as acting against climate change, in order to keep the urban area liveable in the future. To facilitate climate adaptation and mitigation on a national level, the Netherlands drew up guidelines to induce the energy transition, as part of the ...

Understanding the impact of a pressure sewer on municipal wastewater: a pre-treatment for AGS plants

The performance of AGS reactors treating municipal wastewater can be optimised by converting influent particulate matter into readily available substrate. This can be done via anaerobic hydrolysis and fermentation of the influent. Anaerobic processes taking place in pressure sewers are not fully understood but show the potential to act as a pre...

Towards a better understanding of failures occurring in SUDS

In recent decades, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often seen as an addition to, or a replacement of, traditional piped urban drainage (UD) systems. Unfortunately, failures in SUDS still occur regularly, resulting in malfunctioning systems, water nuisance and high costs. To learn from past experiences and to ensure that SUDS...

Adapting urban areas in developing countries: Additional criteria for the Adaptation Support Tool

A study on the relationship between fat, oil and grease (FOG) deposits in sewer systems and FOG disposal patterns

Fat, oil and grease (FOG) deposits are one of the leading causes of sewer system blockages, thereby increasing the risks of undesired and polluting flooding and sewer overflows. FOG accumulates throughout the entire sewer network; e.g., in public sewer pipes and lateral house connections it reduces the available discharge capacity, and in pump...