Forecasting the effects of polluting discharges on natural waters—II

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A brief account is given of the present state of development of methods for forecasting the effects of pollution on estuaries and coastal waters. In the case of vertically homogeneous estuaries the concentration of given pollutants at a chosen state of tide and given freshwater flow can be determined by means of a one‐dimensional steady‐state mathematical model in which use is made of observations of the distribution of salinity to calculate the rate of dispersion of the pollutants. An example is given of the application of such a model to the prediction of the concentration of dissolved oxygen, ammonia and oxidized nitrogen in the Thames Estuary. This type of approach has been extended to allow approximate estimates to be made of the variation of concentration of pollutants during a tidal cycle, and of the steady‐state concentrations in vertically stratified estuaries. A somewhat different type of model is used for predicting the effects of polluting discharges on coastal waters and in this case dispersion characteristics are determined with the aid of radio isotopes. An example is given of the application of one type of model to the prediction of the contamination of coastal waters by coliform bacteria resulting from discharge of sewage from a submerged pipeline.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: