Dave Chandler - Research Student

Research Group

Research Project

The ecological impact of intermittently released CSO effluent in rivers

Combined Sewer Systems carry both domestic sewage and surface run-off to sewage treatment works. During storm events, the volume of material carried in a combined sewer system can increase greatly, and therefore threaten to inundate the sewage treatment works. To avoid this, Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are built into the system, which allow effluent to be released directly into rivers, preventing the treatment works from being inundated.

The effluent which is released into receiving waters contains organic and inorganic pollution from many sources, and can potentially have a great impact on the ecosystems they are released into.

This project aims to measure the impact which pollution from CSOs has on organisms within river communities, and how this may affect the wider ecosystem as a whole.