The effect of heavy precipitation on the infiltration and inflow into small sewage treatment plants in 2010

The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which heavy rainfall, that occurred in 2010, affected the infiltration into the selected sewage treatment plants in the Małopolskie voivodeship. The research was conducted in four separate sewer systems, located in poviats adjacent to the city of Kraków, dis-charging sewage to mechanical-biological treatment plants with a capacity below 1000 m3•d-1. The amount of sewage and extraneous water in the average wet year (2008) were used as control.As a result of heavy precipitation in 2010 the sewer system A received 18 539 m3 more extraneous water than in 2008 (increase by 343%), the sewer sys-tem B - 22 822 m3 (increase by 163%), the sewer system C - 109 715 m3 (increase by 248%) and the sewer system D - 30 796 m3 (increase by 303%). Heavy precipitation in 2010 caused the increase of infiltration and inflow by 264% on average in all studied sewer systems compared to the average wet year. As the result of precipitation, whose annual total in 2010 was higher by 65% than the normal value in 2008, there was an increase in the annual share of extraneous water from 5.3 to 19.7% depending on the ...