Effect of environmental conditions on the erosional resistance of cohesive sediment deposits in sewers

The potential to adjust sewer network operation in order to control the level of transported sediment in sewage so as to enhance the performance of end-of-pipe treatment works is now being investigated. However for this to become a practical management option there is a need to be able to understand the processes which control the movement of sediments that are found in many combined sewers. Crucial to this understanding is an ability to predict how sediments from in-sewer deposits, are released by the action of vigorous flows. This paper reports on a laboratory investigation that aimed to investigate the effect that the environmental conditions during deposit formation can have on the ability of fine-grained organic sediment within in-sewer deposits to resist erosion and subsequent release into transport.