{"id":10128,"date":"2019-07-31T09:57:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T07:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cienciagandia.webs.upv.es\/?p=10128"},"modified":"2019-07-31T09:57:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T07:57:29","slug":"a-simple-change-to-submarine-outfall-design-would-reduce-wastewater-pollution-in-gandia-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cienciagandia.webs.upv.es\/en\/2019\/07\/a-simple-change-to-submarine-outfall-design-would-reduce-wastewater-pollution-in-gandia-beaches\/","title":{"rendered":"A Simple Change to Submarine Outfall Design Would Reduce Wastewater Pollution in Gandia Beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enabling the adequate dilution of pollutants, facilitating self-purification in the marine aquatic environment and avoiding harmful effects to the environment and human health<\/strong>. This is the main goal of the submarine outfalls present on the Valencian coast, among them the Gandia outfall. The municipal wastewater is discharged through this pipeline into the sea, after having undergone treatment. At present, according to a study by the Campus Gandia of the Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica (UPV)<\/strong>, the operation of the Gandia outfall does not comply with the recommendations for the wholesomeness of water under the current legislation. <\/strong>To properly fulfill its mission, proper design and improvements in maintenance would be crucial.<\/p>\n

Carlos Barciela<\/strong><\/a>, student in the Master’s Degree in Assessment and Environmental Monitoring of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems<\/strong><\/a>, has developed a scale model of the last section of the submarine outfall, as Master Final Thesis Project. According to his research, directed by the Professor of Physics at the UPV, V\u00edctor S\u00e1nchez,<\/strong> the outfall could operate within the legal limits with a simple change: a diffuser design (final section of the outfall) in which the pipe would have a decreasing diameter instead of a constant diameter,<\/strong> which is what it currently presents.<\/p>\n

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V\u00edctor S\u00e1nchez and Carlos Barciela<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The outfall is more than 30 years old and its current operation would not comply with the recommendations under the current legislation for the wholesomeness of water. Its design and maintenance need improvement<\/strong>,” says Barciela. “The law recommends a minimum flow rate inside the outfall and a minimum speed for each diffuser at its exit to the sea. As the current outfall diameter is constant, these conditions are not met. This makes it easy for malfunctions to occur and the water does not discharge into the sea efficiently<\/strong>, so the contaminants do not dilute well.”<\/p>\n

To calculate the proper characteristics of the outfall diffuser, mathematical and physical models have been used that consider aspects such as water densities or sea currents.<\/p>\n

BREAK IN THE OUTFALL<\/p>\n

In addition to the design and maintenance defects detected, the current state of the Gandia outfall has worsened recently due to a break,<\/strong> which Miguel Rodilla<\/strong><\/a>, research professor at Campus Gandia, has been able to confirm. “Right now the outfall is discharging 1 km before it should, which increases the likelihood of pollution problems on nearby beaches, such as Marenys de Rafalcaid or Daimuz,<\/strong>” explains Rodilla.<\/p>\n