Several process units at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) can produce a
significant level of sound and thus induce sound nuisance for nearby reside
nts. The risk for sound nuisance should be considered by making a prognosis
of sound impact in an early project phase (planning, design). A prognosis
requires information with respect to the sound characteristics of the diffe
rent process units. This paper reports the development of empirical models
for the sound power of relevant process units in the water line at Aquafin
WWTPs. The used methodology for model derivation and validation allowed us
to minimize the required number of measurements. Besides the methodology, t
he paper describes in detail the derivation and validation of the empirical
model for the splashing water of screw pumps. Also the use of all the deri
ved empirical models to determine the sound impact of a wastewater treatmen
t plant at close distance is illustrated with a case-study.