Influence of hydrodynamic features in the transport and fate of hazard contaminants within touristic ports. Case study: Torre a Mare (Italy)

Abstract

The environmental quality of Torre a Mare port (Italy) was assessed evaluating on one side, the chemical concentration of nine metals and metalloids within bottom sediments and on the other one, by exploring the impact of hydrodynamic conditions in contaminant’s transport within the most polluted basins. The investigated port was selected as case study because it resulted much more polluted than it was expected based on the touristic port activities and related stressors loading on it. In order to determine the origin and fate of contaminants in the port basin, 2D numerical simulations were carried out by MIKE21 software. The hydrodynamic module (HD) based on a rectangular grid was initially used to characterize the flow field into two domains that cover the inner and offshore harbor area. Then, advection–dispersion (AD) and water quality (WQ) modules were coupled in order to simulate the simultaneous processes of transport and dispersion of hypothetical pollutant sources. The dissolved/suspended sediment particulates (DSS) were selected as contaminant tracers. The comparative analysis between simulation responses and the real metal contaminant distribution showed high agreement, suggesting that contaminants mainly come from outside port and tend to accumulate in the inner basin. In fact, hydrodynamic circulations cause inflowing streams toward the harbor entrance and the particular port morphology hampers the exit of fine sediments from the inner basin, enhancing thus the accumulation of sediment-associated contaminants within the port area. The study confirms that the quality of touristic port areas strongly depends on both pollution sources located within and outside the port domain and it is controlled mainly by the hydrodynamic-driven processes.

Modeling of Hydrodynamics and Dilution in Coastal Waters

“…The quality of water near the coast is an outcome of the net result of any treatment, inactivation, and dilution of discharged waste [6]. To understand the complex and vital phenomena of the mixing process, numerical, analytical, physical models, and field experiments can be used [7][8][9][10]. The integration of this knowledge with different methodologies can deal with the complexity of hydrodynamic and hydraulic studies.…”

Laboratory Investigation on the Evolution of a Sandy Beach Nourishment Protected by a Mixed Soft–Hard System

“…They dissipate the incident wave energy, hence reducing the wave hydrodynamic action on coasts [11,12] and extending the residence time of sediments in the sheltered region [13,14], depending on configuration parameters (i.e., freeboard, distance from the shoreline, and transmission coefficient), wave climate and nearshore seabed [15][16][17][18]. Moreover, they have a lower impact on both hydrodynamic processes and nearshore zone morphodynamics with respect to the emerged detached breakwaters and groins, since they are able to enhance the water circulation, its renovations rates [19,20] and biological biodiversity [21].…”

Application of a Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for Inland Surface Water Systems

“…Therefore, mathematical modeling coupled with observations for verification and calibration is essential in such cases. Hydrodynamic and water quality models have been widely developed and used for the investigations of rivers [1][2][3][4], lakes or reservoirs [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], estuaries [12,13], and coastal waters [14,15] on various aspects. These models have been effective tools for explaining, simulating, and forecasting the complex processes in water environment.…”