Work

Impact of water residence time and stratification on water quality improvement of an artificial brackish waterway

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Artificial brackish waterways involving complex hydro-ecological processes are experiencing water quality issues in many countries, including South Korea. The present work studies constructed two scenarios for numerical experiments to investigate the effects of the different residence times on water qualities by controlling the inflow of freshwater discharges and traveling distances. Unless the released fresh water has no better water quality than in the channel, despite the longer residence time, water quality was improved significantly without the release of the freshwater than with it. This is attributed to the absence of stratification by freshwater, inhibiting vertical mixing between water columns. Another case suggests that in the upstream of the artificial waterway where freshwater is introduced, strong stratification makes it difficult for vertical mixing to occur, increasing the residence times in the bottom layer and deteriorating the water quality. Meanwhile, as travel distance increases, downstream water quality improves since the influence of freshwater is less pronounced, owing to weaker stratification. Therefore, it was confirmed that residence time and mixing controlled by stratification along with the inflow water quality play a crucial role in determining the water quality of the artificial waterway.

Source: Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.102091

Authors: Bo-Kyung Kim, Dong Hyeon Kim, Jin Hwan Hwang

Institutions: Seoul National University, Institute of Engineering Research, Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Aquatic and Environmental Studies

Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,460