Monitoring sewage networks for sanitary sewer overflows

Sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) are becoming of increasing concern to utilities and regulators. The number and severity of SSOs can be reduced by the detection-correction of ongoing events. A methodology is presented to locate meters to maximize the likelihood of detecting system blockages and SSO disruptions. The problem is solved using a set-covering approach and allows the trade-off between the number of detections and the cost of gages to be easily assessed. To introduce blockages and analyze system hydraulics, a full hydraulic model for the sewer system is applied. A system in Pima County Arizona is used as a case study.