Primer to SWIFt 2.0 Technical Information Sheets

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/3001740· OSTI ID:3001740

Sharma, Naushita ^[1]; Lemar Jr., Paul ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

More than 16,000 publicly owned municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the U.S. treat a wide range of wastewater (WW) flows ranging from <0.5 to >200 MGD. Municipal WWTPs act as the last barrier before exposure to water-borne diseases and contaminants, thus serving as a critical infrastructure protecting human health and the environment. A recent survey by the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned the U.S.’s WW infrastructure a grade of D+ because of the number of improvements needed for end-of-life infrastructure with operating conditions being over or under design capacities. With increasing population growth and urbanization, the municipal WW sector needs to grow resiliently and sustainably to accommodate increasing sewer flows in the wake of new infrastructure needs and global priorities. In addition, this growth will be affected by rising concerns over constrained resources (e.g., electricity, energy, and water) and regulations. This necessitates molding the WW sector toward sustainability- and resiliency-related planning and innovations to address current and future needs while simultaneously producing profitable by-products.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 3001740
• Report Number(s): ORNL-TM--2025-4258
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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