Assessment of sanitary infrastructures and polluting loads in Pojuca river (Brazil)

Collivignarelli, Carlo; Felice, Valentina De; Bella, Veronica Di; Sorlini, Sabrina; Torretta, Vincenzo; Vaccari, Mentore

doi:10.2166/wpt.2012.044

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…As in a similar study [6], our main objective was to investigate how to ensure a healthy environment for tourists and residents, and how to maintain the extraordinary ecosystems of this island by identifying a model of wastewater management that is economically and technologically sustainable. This paper aims at giving a possible solution for the treatment of urban wastewater in those particular situations where it is absolutely necessary to preserve the environment but bearing in mind the technical difficulties in doing so, such as the hard soils and distance from centralized service centers on the islands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of Urban Wastewater on One of the Galapagos Islands

et al. 2016

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Since 1984, the Galapagos Islands have been included in the program UNESCO-MAB (Man and Biosphere Programme) due to the increasing need to safeguard their outstanding natural ecosystems and promote economic progress based on principles of sustainable development and environmentally friendly technologies. The Ecuadorian government, also by special laws, has legislated in favor of the environmental protection of the archipelago, with the intention to control the flow of migrants from the continent to the islands. Today, with the further problems created by the massive influx of tourists, is it necessary to establish planned areas of urban expansion that are already equipped with a suitable system of collection and treatment of wastewater. This paper focuses on the city of Puerto Ayora, the main town of the island of Santa Cruz, where increasing human pressure has led to, among various other consequences, an increase in water demand, which has highlighted the inadequacy of the current wastewater treatment system, based primarily on single-family septic tanks without additional depuration. Among the various actions proposed to solve the increasing health and environmental hazards, caused by the partially treated wastewater, a centralized sewer system for the drainage and the depuration of the wastewater produced by the users connected to the network has been proposed in order to serve the community of Puerto Ayora. This project is currently experiencing a slow implementation process due to technical difficulties. Our intention is to propose a different wastewater management system, which is modular, easily replicable and which requires low maintenance. A flexible and easily manageable system, such as that proposed, could be implemented in other contexts such as, for example, in developing countries. In this specific case, the main purpose of this study is to investigate how to ensure a healthy environment for tourists and residents, without neglecting our duty to respect the ecosystems of this extraordinary island, by defining a model of wastewater management which should be economically and technologically sustainable in this particular context. In fact, the soil, formed by lava rock does not allow for very deep excavations and being so far away from the mainland means that technologies that are easily maintainable on site must be deployed. The study was carried out according to the Millennium Development Goals, Ecuadorian legislation, the suggestions of the Pan American Health Organization, relevant scientific literature and some data collected from site surveys.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of Urban Wastewater on One of the Galapagos Islands

et al. 2016

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“…The aim of this work is to analyze the criticalities arising from the need to preserve the ecosystems of this extraordinary island and the need to find an economically and technologically sustainable model of MSW management for the municipality of Santa Cruz, similarly to what is done in other low income countries [6][7][8][9][10]. A specific aim concerns the finding of replicable solutions for the management of MSW in tourist islands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of Municipal Solid Waste in One of the Galapagos Islands

et al. 2014

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This paper analyses some aspects of the management of municipal solid waste in one of the islands of the Galapagos archipelago. The aim is to point out a few aspects of an interesting experience that could help decision managers faced with the organization of the waste sector in similar realities. The relevance of this case study consists in the presence of a very famous National Park surrounding the inhabited area. The role of tourism in the generation of waste is analyzed too.

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“…In 2010, the population density was about 272 inhab·km −2 [10] with all the problems related to significant pollution pressure and with urban and industrial development. This recent and rapid evolution has resulted in the need to address several issues related to the environmental protection and the sustainable development of the area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, a preliminary project was set up for the construction of a reservoir ("Itapecirica Lake"), located near the mouth of the river, in order to provide Salvador da Bahia (the capital of the state of Bahia), metropolitan area with drinking water [10]. Recently, a two-year international cooperation project between Italy and Brazil aimed at implementing a sustainable river basin management plan (RBMP) was set up for the Pojuca River.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sustainable Use of Water Resources: A Technical Support for Planning. A Case Study

Torretta

2014

Sustainability

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The paper presents both the structure and application of a Decision Support System (DSS) for an important river in Brazil-along with the sustainable management of its watershed. This DSS assesses both surface-water quality and riverine microhabitats in terms of future scenarios, taking into account regulation limits and appropriate quality indexes. Our future scenarios consider: (a) population and climate change trends; (b) upgrade of sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants; and (c) withdrawal management from rivers and reservoirs. We use some main types of interrelated models, which can simulate different aspects of the responses of a basin, with respect to different modes of use of the water resource. In particular, the surface-water quality models simulate total phosphorus, BOD, dissolved oxygen concentration and thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria pollution. The riverine microhabitat models apply habitat suitability indexes of autochthonous fish species considering water depth, velocity, bottom substrate and dissolved oxygen. Both models are based on hydrologic and hydraulic models results and both were calibrated using discharge and water quality measurements collected over a 1.5-year monitoring period. Our pre-and post-processing are based on common spreadsheets and the output data are spatially analyzed using GIS software. Examples are also shown of how the DSS can contribute to developing a sustainable use of the basin resources, including a reservoir used to supply drinking water to the capital city (Salvador da Bahia).

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Assessment of sanitary infrastructures and polluting loads in Pojuca river (Brazil)

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

Management of Urban Wastewater on One of the Galapagos Islands

Management of Urban Wastewater on One of the Galapagos Islands

Management of Municipal Solid Waste in One of the Galapagos Islands

The Sustainable Use of Water Resources: A Technical Support for Planning. A Case Study

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