Air quality monitoring for wastewater treatment plants
Wastewater treatment processes can generate variable odour-related conditions and gaseous emissions across treatment, sludge handling and storage areas.
Aernode provides continuous monitoring around relevant process zones and site boundaries, helping operators detect changing conditions, relate events to plant activity and meteorology, investigate complaints and maintain structured environmental records for day-to-day management.
Continuous insight for proactive odour management
Conditions around wastewater treatment plants can change rapidly with process loads, sludge handling, storage activities and meteorological conditions. Continuous monitoring provides a persistent record of relevant environmental parameters, helping operators identify recurring patterns and review changing conditions around process areas, including periods associated with reported odour episodes.
With monitoring nodes positioned around relevant process areas, site boundaries and sensitive receptors, operators can relate changing conditions to plant activity and local meteorology, investigate reported odour events and identify recurring patterns. The resulting data provides a continuous environmental evidence base for operational review, mitigation actions and communication with external stakeholders.
Operational value of continuous wastewater plant monitoring
Continuous environmental data gives operators additional context to review changing conditions, investigate reported events and support day-to-day environmental management around the plant.
Continuous environmental oversight
A distributed network provides an ongoing record of selected environmental parameters around process areas and site boundaries, helping operators identify recurring patterns and variations that periodic measurements may not capture.
Better context for reported odour events
Historical measurements can be reviewed alongside plant activity and meteorological conditions to provide additional context when odour episodes are reported and support a more informed assessment of the circumstances surrounding the event.
Active monitoring with configurable alerts
Configurable thresholds can highlight changes in monitored parameters, giving operators an additional signal to review process conditions, meteorology or activities taking place in relevant areas of the plant.
Identify recurring conditions and patterns
Comparing measurements across process areas, operating periods and meteorological conditions can help reveal recurring environmental patterns and support more targeted investigation of activities or locations requiring attention.
Structured data for reporting and communication
Consistent time-series records support internal environmental reviews, documented follow-up of reported events and evidence-based communication with municipalities, neighbouring communities and other stakeholders.
A monitoring network designed around treatment processes and receptors
Each deployment is configured around relevant process areas, site boundaries, prevailing winds and nearby receptors, so measurements provide useful context for day-to-day environmental management and the review of reported events.
Define the monitoring objectives
Identify the process areas, site boundaries and nearby receptors that are most relevant to the monitoring programme, and define the environmental conditions or reported events the network should help operators review.
Configure and position the network
Select the relevant environmental parameters and position monitoring nodes around treatment, sludge handling or storage areas, taking prevailing winds, site boundaries and sensitive receptors into account.
Establish the operational workflow
Connect measurements with dashboards, configurable alerts, meteorological data and reporting outputs so operators can review changing conditions, investigate reported events and maintain a structured environmental record over time.
Parameters commonly monitored around wastewater treatment plants
| Parameter | Why it matters at wastewater treatment plants |
|---|---|
|
H₂S
Hydrogen sulphide
|
Hydrogen sulphide can be associated with anaerobic conditions in wastewater conveyance, treatment and sludge-management processes. Continuous measurements can help review concentration trends and variations around relevant areas and provide additional context when odour episodes are reported. |
|
NH₃
Ammonia
|
Ammonia may be relevant around selected treatment stages, sludge handling and storage areas. Monitoring can provide additional information on changing conditions and support comparison between operating periods or process activities. |
|
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
|
Volatile compounds can vary with influent composition, industrial discharges, treatment processes and sludge handling. VOC monitoring can provide a broad indicator of changing volatile emissions and useful context for the investigation of recurring or reported events. |
|
PM₂.₅ / PM₁₀
Particulate matter
|
Particulate matter can be relevant where sludge handling or drying, material movements, unpaved surfaces and internal traffic contribute to local dust conditions. PM monitoring also provides a broader view of ambient air quality across the site and at its boundary. |
|
Wind
Speed and direction
|
Wind speed and direction provide essential context for interpreting measurements across the plant and its boundary, particularly when reviewing whether changing conditions may be associated with specific process areas or nearby receptors. |
Monitoring configurations are project-specific; H₂S, NH₃, VOC indicators, particulate matter and meteorological parameters are selected according to treatment processes, site characteristics and monitoring objectives.
Explore the Aernode Components
Aernode Monitors
Configurable outdoor stations for continuous measurement of particulate matter, gaseous pollutants and environmental conditions across distributed monitoring networks.
- Site-specific pollutant configurations
- Continuous outdoor data acquisition
- Designed for single-site and multi-node networks
Aernode Cloud
A central environment for device supervision, data storage, post-processing and secure access to current and historical monitoring information.
- Remote network and device management
- Historical records and data continuity
- Authenticated integration through APIs
Sensor Kits
Preconfigured sensing assemblies that simplify pollutant selection, field servicing and configuration updates throughout the operating life of the network.
- Modular pollutant combinations
- Efficient field replacement
- Configuration tailored to project requirements
Reporting Tools
Digital environments for current conditions, historical analysis, automated outputs and communication with internal teams or external stakeholders.
- Real-time and historical dashboards
- Threshold alerts and scheduled reports
- Private and stakeholder-facing environments
Accessories
Power, meteorological, mounting and connectivity options for fixed-site, perimeter and off-grid monitoring configurations.
- Weather stations and anemometers
- Solar power and autonomous deployment options
- Mounting and connectivity accessories
Plan a monitoring network for your wastewater treatment plant
Define the right environmental parameters, node placement, connectivity and reporting workflow for continuous monitoring across process areas, site boundaries and nearby receptors.