Impact of sewage effluent discharges prediction using QUAL2Kw in a sensitive protected area: Portugal

Abstract

The quality of water, under the influence of the wastewater treatment plant's discharges, makes the simulation of the water parameters a key issue, broadly when considering intermittent rivers. In the case of study, the Pracana reservoir works as an example of the characterization, monitoring and control of the impact of several wastewater treatment plants' discharges, directly contributing to water quality. Proença-a-Nova's wastewater treatment plant contributes directly to the Pracana reservoir (Central Portugal), which is a protected field. Twelve georeferenced water samples were gathered, between the sewage discharge and downstream to the Pracana reservoir, at almost equal distances. Sampling campaigns were taken during three different periods: rainy winter (January), intermediate conditions (March) and dry season (June). The following chemical parameters were analyzed: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), dissolved oxygen (DO), dry residue, P total , N total , pH, temperature and microbiological parameters. DO, BOD 5 and microbiological parameters served as indicators for environmental pollution evaluation. A coupled hydrodynamic and water dispersion model, QUAL2kw, was used for water's quality simulation. The results lead to conclude that the water quality is acceptable for multiple purposes, except for human consumption, mainly due to moderate-to-high values of BOD 5 .

Effects of Wastewater Treatment Plant’s Discharges on a Freshwater Ecosystem—a Case Study on the Ramalhoso River (Portugal)

“…Sewage treatment plant discharges are one of the biggest problems in developed and developing countries, contributing to an unclear and unstable aquatic ecosystem, including, but not limited to, oxygen demand and nutrient loading in the receiving basin (e.g., Albuquerque et al, 2019;Aubertheau et al, 2017;Gonzalo & Camargo, 2013;Hilario Garcia et al, 2017;Li et al, 2016). Furthermore, sewage discharge may have a considerable impact on public health, mainly when the effluent is directly discharged into the waterline and subsequently used in human activities (Xiao et al, 2018;Zafar et al, 2017).…”

“…When wastewater is discharged into a water line, with biodegradable organic substances, whether of domestic or industrial origin, the action that these exert on the waterline will depend on the relationship between the volume of water and the volume of the discharge. Dilution will be the main factor that intervenes in minimizing the impact that the discharge may cause on the waterline (Albuquerque et al, 2019).…”

Introducing an applied reactor for treatment of wastewater containing propylene glycol

“…In the contemporary world, different environmental problems have been caused as a result of constant development of additives and substances, most of which were supposed to enhance the quality of life [2,4,54]. Propylene glycol (PG) is one of these chemicals which is used in various industries including cosmetics, detergents, pesticides, foods, pharmaceutical, and most importantly aircraft deicing fluid, in tremendous amounts [53].…”

Applying response surface methodology on the results of serial sequencing batch moving bed reactor

“…As the population growth, the widespread use of industry and medicine have led to a larger volume of sewage containing contaminants [1,2]. The treatment of industrial wastewater were investigated in previous studies [3,5,10,26,29,30,45,46,58].…”