📚 About This Method

What is the Volume Treated Method?

The Volume Treated method quantifies Volumetric Water Benefits (VWB) from wastewater treatment projects. It calculates the effective volume of water that has been improved by treatment, accounting for water quality improvements toward regulatory or environmental standards.

When to Use This Method

  • Treatment Beyond Compliance: When treatment exceeds regulatory requirements
  • Water Quality Challenges: When addressing local water quality issues not covered by regulations
  • Beneficial Reuse: When treated water is provided for beneficial use in the catchment
  • Measuring Progress: Tracking improvements over multiple sampling periods

How to Use This Calculator

Step 1 — Project Information: Enter your project details and the annual volume of water treated.

Step 2 — Set Up Parameters: Either load a pre-saved standard set (e.g. China GB3838-88) which automatically populates parameters and their threshold values, or manually select individual parameters and set your own standards.

Step 3 — Enter Measurement Data: Upload a CSV file of inlet/outlet measurements, or type values directly into the table.

Step 4 — Calculate: The calculator computes a Quality Factor and Volumetric Water Benefit (VWB).

Calculation Methodology

For each water quality parameter:

For Pollutants (Lower is Better): If Inlet Concentration > Standard: Fraction Improved = MIN((Inlet - Outlet) / (Inlet - Standard), 1.0) For Beneficial Parameters (Higher is Better — e.g. DO): If Inlet Concentration < Standard: Fraction Improved = MIN((Outlet - Inlet) / (Standard - Inlet), 1.0) For Range Parameters (Must be Within Range — e.g. pH 6-9): If Inlet is Below Minimum: - If Outlet reaches range: Fraction = 1.0 - If Outlet improves but still below: Fraction = (Outlet-Inlet)/(Min-Inlet) If Inlet is Above Maximum: - If Outlet reaches range: Fraction = 1.0 - If Outlet improves but still above: Fraction = (Inlet-Outlet)/(Inlet-Max) If Inlet Already Meets Standard: Parameter is excluded (already compliant) Overall Quality Factor: Quality Factor = Average of all Fraction Improved values Volumetric Water Benefit: VWB = Annual Treatment Volume × Quality Factor

Note: Range parameters (e.g. pH): enter as "min-max" (e.g. "6-9"). Regular hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes are all supported.

Beneficial Parameters: Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is treated as beneficial (higher = better, shown with ↑). All other parameters default to pollutants (lower = better). This can be overridden for custom parameters.

① Project Information

② Set Up Parameters & Standards

Select a pre-saved water quality standard. All parameters and their threshold values will be loaded into the table automatically — you only need to enter your inlet and outlet measurements.

Select a standard set above to see a description.