What would be the BEST result if the flow were to increase 200% in a system that is designed for only 0.3 MGD?

When a wastewater treatment system is designed for a specific flow rate, such as 0.3 million gallons per day (MGD), a sudden increase in flow by 200% can overwhelm the system's capacity. In this scenario, the treatment processes may not be able to handle the increased volume effectively. This can lead to short circuiting, where wastewater flows through the treatment system much faster than intended, reducing the time available for treatment processes like sedimentation, biological treatment, or nutrient removal to occur.

As a result, with the flow increasing significantly, the system may not allow adequate contact time between the wastewater and the treatment processes, which can ultimately lead to a decrease in the overall treatment efficiency. Consequently, this situation may result in untreated or inadequately treated effluent being discharged from the system, posing environmental and regulatory issues.

The key to understanding this situation lies in recognizing that wastewater treatment systems are designed with specific hydraulic and treatment retention times in mind. When these are compromised, as occurs with such a drastic flow increase, treatment effectiveness will likely decline due to the short-circuiting phenomenon.