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Keywords: Pollutants; Coastline; Water quality
Abstract: Transport and dispersion of pollutants in aquatic environments, such as estuaries, are difficult tasks due to temporal and spatial variability. The case of Chicharrón estuary, on the touristic coast, is the most critical scenario, since it is highly polluted, as a consequence of many dumpings along the coastline as well as contaminated outflows from river like Cucaracha and Monta? ita wastewater from non-legal networks. A particular interest is given to the fate of pathogens, and especially of pollutants, in all the cases which an interaction between population and the receiving water body is foreseen. The present paper aims to propose an integrated water quality model involving the analysis of several sewer systems discharging their polluting loads near the coast in a sensitive marine environment. The path of pollutants allowed determining the most affected area in different weather conditions and the amount of tourism present in the area. The analysis shows a good agreement between the model and monitored data. The integrated model was demonstrated to be a valuable tool for investigating pollutants propagation and to highlight the most impacted areas.
Year: 2016