Sustainability assessment in strategic management of wastewater transport system: a case study in Trondheim, Norway

Abstract

Sewer networks represent high value in water infrastructure assets and it is important to develop and operate them by specified sustainable management. This paper presents the results of a sustainability analysis on the wastewater transport system of Trondheim, Norway, for future planning (2014–2040) from a metabolism-based performance analysis by the Dynamic Metabolism Model (DMM). The aim of this work is to demonstrate a methodology for comparing different pathways toward a sustainable management of wastewater systems. For this purpose, four intervention strategies ‘infiltration and inflow reduction’, ‘increasing rehabilitation rate’, ‘extension of system regarding population growth’, ‘energy management’ along with different combinations of them have been analysed. The results of this study may give some support to decision-makers in wastewater departments. In practice, to achieve strategic level planning of sustainable sewer asset management, it is vital to assess different aspects of sustainability and manage them in a comprehensive system.