The Australian Open is held each year in Melbourne, Australia and is one of four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, attracting top-ranked professional and junior players from around the world. Flow monitoring data from the 2006 Australian Open are shown below and provide a recap of the tournament from a sewer’s perspective. Attendance figures for each day of the tournament are provided for comparison.
This data was obtained from a flow monitor located just downstream from Melbourne Park — home to the Australian Open. Melbourne Park provides a world-class venue for competitive tennis, and key features of the venue are summarized below:
The Australian Open encompassed a total of 631 matches contested on 17 different courts during 14 days of competition — including 12 day sessions, 11 night sessions, and two twilight sessions.
Sewer flow rates observed during several days of the tournament are compared to average dry day flows on the composite hydrographs shown below. Dry day flows were obtained after the tournament during February 2006 when no other events were scheduled at Melbourne Park. Flows directly associated with the Australian Open are determined by subtracting each tournament day flow from the average weekday of weekend flow. Note that peak sewer flows occur just before the start of major matches and are most pronounced for the men’s singles finals.
According to tournament officials, patrons consumed more than 37,247 buckets of hot chips, 37,305 barbeque sausages, 5,500 pounds of curry, 164,416 ice creams, 200,821 bottles of water, and 110,685 espresso coffees. According to the flow monitor, they also generated 2,204,000 gallons of wastewater. With a reported attendance of 550,500, this results in a sewer use rate of 4.0 gallons/day/person over the duration of the tournament — consistent with the sewer use rate observed at college football games in the United States.
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