ASM1 therefore catalysed the research and had a major impact on activated sludge modelling.

ASM1 was the foundation for numerous extensions. These extensions include for example better prediction of nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Widely used extended models include ASM2, ASM2d, and ASM3P. At the time of publication of the ASM1 model, biological phosphorus removal was already used although this process was not completely understood at that time. Basic knowledge of phosphorus removing bacteria was included in the ASM1 model and parameters