The public health risk associated with wet weather sewer overflows has been modelled,and the change in health risk following sewer overflow abatement was examined.Bayesian networks show significant benefits in assessing risks from sewer overflow.
Overflows from sanitary sewers during wet weather,which occur when the hydraulic capacity of the sewer system is exceeded,are considered a potential threat to the ecological and public health of the waterways which receive these overflows.
As a result,water retailers in Australia and around the world commit significant resources to manage and abate sewer overflows.However,while some studies have contributed to an increased understanding of the impacts and risks associated with these events,they are relatively few in number,and there still is a general lack of knowledge in this area.
Here Australian researchers present a Bayesian network model to assess the public health risk associated with wet weather sewer overflows.
The Bayesian network approach provides significant benefits in the assessment of public health risks associated with wet weather sewer overflows.In particular,the model's ability to account for the uncertainty inherent in sewer overflow events and subsequent impacts through the use of probabilities is a valuable function.
In addition,the study highlights the benefits of the probabilistic inference function of the Bayesian network,in prioritising management options to minimise public health risks associated with sewer overflows.
