An integrated modelling approach for the assessment of land use change effects on wastewater infrastructures

The simulation of sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants is strategic for assessing the effect of new dwellings on the existing water facilities. This paper introduces an integrated framework made by a land use change model, a sewage system simulator, and a wastewater treatment plant simulator. This is a complex system since each element is characterized by different dynamics. The land use change model simulates the annual expansion of an urban area according to planners’ guidelines; the sewage system simulator investigates the response of the drainage system to the expansion. The wastewater treatment plant is simulated in order to assess the impact of the new outflows on the existing plant. The three models are integrated into a Simulink model. Two components of the developed framework are based on models well established in literature. The proposed framework is tested on a simple case study of a small town located in south west of Scotland.