Online Storage Technology of the Separate Sewage System: Demonstration Study in a Typical Plain River Network City

Due to the high underground water level, frequent rainfall, and large amounts of infiltration and inflow (I/I) into the sewage system, a city in the plain river network region had to face a series of problems caused by the high water-level operation of the drainage system. Suzhou, a city in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, can be a representative of cities in plain river networks, where this research was carried out. The amount of I/I into the sewage system was evaluated, and the storm water management model (SWMM) was used to further calculate the sewer water storage capacity under dry and wet weather with multi-year average rainfall. Based on the offline model calculation and artificial experiences, the rule-based online regulation and storage real-time control strategy (RTC) is verified, and the online regulation and storage intelligent scheduling demonstration is carried out in the central-city district of Suzhou. The results showed that the infiltration in dry weather accounted for about 20–25% of the total collected wastewater; in wet weather (36 mm precipitation), the extraneous water induced by I/I peaked at 73.64%. The collaborative control of regional multi-stage pumping stations through RTC of the sewage system can effectively avoid the high water-level operation caused by peak sewage flows on dry days. In combination with rainfall forecasting, the coordinated control of plants and pumping stations to pre-empty the sewer pipelines prior to rainfall can, to some extent (up to 35 mm of rainfall in this study), cope with the increase in I/I induced by rainfall.