Estimation of U.S. sewer residence time distributions for national-scale risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals.

Sewer residence time (the amount of time a given volume of wastewater resides in a sewer system prior to treatment) can have a significant influence on predictions of environmental fate and transport of wastewater constituents and corresponding risk assessment. In this study, a geographic information systems-based approach for estimating the distribution of sewer residence times for the U.S. was developed using road networks as a spatial proxy for sewer networks. The suitability of the approach was evaluated using case study municipalities, and the approach was subsequently extrapolated to 3422 wastewater treatment facilities of varying size across the U.S. to estimate a national distribution of sewer residence times. The estimated national median residence time for the U.S. was 3.3h. Facilities serving smaller municipalities (<1 million gallons per day) had comparatively shorter sewer residence times to facilities serving larger municipalities, though the latter comprise a greater proportion of overall national wastewater volume. The results of this study provide an important data resource in combination with chemical in-sewer biodegradation data to enable probabilistic risk assessment of consumer product chemicals disposed of down the drain.