ABSTRACT
The City of New York is conducting facility upgrade planning for the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP), located on the East River in Brooklyn, New York. The objective of the planning project is to develop viable management options for treated sewage effluent discharged from this facility and from other plants located on the East River. As part of this planning, the City authorized the development and application of the System-Wide Eutrophication Model (SWEM). The purpose of SWEM is to provide refined evaluations of the effects of proposed WPCP upgrades and other engineering alternatives and, ultimately, to select a cost-effective management plan for the East River and western Long Island Sound.
New York City is proceeding to achieve secondary treatment at the Newtown Creek WPCP. In addition, the Long Island Sound Study of the National Estuary Program is requiring that New York City abate the contribution of nitrogen loadings from the six East River WPCPs to alleviate low dissolved oxygen levels in western Long Island Sound. Engineering solutions under consideration to satisfy these mandates include: advanced treatment at the East River WPCPs, aggregation of East River discharges, outfall relocation, and tidal gates. The nature of the engineering solutions necessitated that SWEM include both detailed hydrodynamics and eutrophication kinetics. Nearly 30 engineering alternatives were evaluated. This paper summarizes the water quality issues, technical approach, and results for three diverse engineering solutions.
