The Benchmark Simulation Models - A Valuable Collection of Modelling Tools

Over a decade ago, the concept of a tool that could be used to objectively evaluate the performance of control strategies through simulation using a standard model implementation was introduced for activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. That concept resulted in the development of the Benchmark Simulation Model No 1 (BSM1), the subsequent BSM1_LT and most recently BSM2. Debate about the need and application of these models has dogged the development effort since it first began with practitioners suggesting that these models are only academically applicable, have been conceived of for publication generation purposes and provide limited benefit to the applied modelling community. The authors of this paper, as contributing members to the development, beg to differ with those detractors. The focus of this submission is the BSM models from the perspective of a modelling toolbox, and a platform, on which modelling issues have been debated, experimented upon, tested and developed to further the field of wastewater treatment modelling in general.