Equalization basin is very ...

Equalization basin is very important to feed the followings treatments steps with constant wastewater flow and  quality. The benefits are not only functional but also economic for management facility and investment cost reduction.

The majority of industrial wastewater treatment plant are equipped with equalization tank but the majority of municipal wastewater treatment plants work without equalization tank.

I asked more information regarding the flow pattern to give more appropriate indication.

The case submitted by Mr Bahlake can applied for our skiing areas in the Alps where during the weekend the flow and organic load, in few hours, increase 3-4 time for about 48 hours.

To maintain constant F/M in this case requires one storage tank able to accumulate the extra flow and to calculate the average flow on weekly basis and not on daily basis.

To apply multi tanks system or variable volume tank cannot solve the problem because there aren’t enough biomass in the plant when the overload arrives.

The plant section dimensioned on the hydraulic load basis must be calculated with the maximum flow.

The biological reactor is much more elastic, the outlet BOD is very similar if you work with F/M 0,1 or 0,2 of course you can lose nitrification and to have in some cases bulking problem.

I think not necessary to work with the same F/M in average condition and in peak condition.