Maurizio Mancini

Can constructed wetlands treat wastewater for reuse in agriculture? Review of guidelines and examples in South Europe

South Europe is one of the areas negatively affected by climate change. Issues with water shortage are already visible, and are likely to increase. Since agriculture is the biggest freshwater consumer, it is important to find new water sources that could mitigate the climate change impact. In order to overcome problems and protect the environment, a better approach towards wastewater management is needed. That includes an increase in the volume of wastewater that is treated and a paradigm shift towards a more sustainable system where wastewater is actually considered as a resource. This study evaluates the potential of constructed wetlands (CWs) to treat domestic wastewater and produce effluent that will be suitable for reuse in agriculture. In South Europe, four countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) have national standards that regulate wastewater reuse in agriculture. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that are based on CWs in these four countries were analysed and their effluents compared with the quality needed for reuse. In general, it was found that CWs have trouble reaching the strictest standards, especially regarding microbiological parameters. However, their effluents are found to be suitable for reuse in areas that do not require water of the highest quality.

Freshwater discharge by estuarine transition flow near cesenatico (Italy)

ABSTRACT Archetti, R., Mancini, M.L. 2013. Freshwater discharge by estuarine transition flow near Cesenatico (Italy) The freshwater dispersion plume in the sea is described in the paper with the aim of a 3D numerical model and with the validation of field campaigns carried out in different conditions. The investigated area regards the coastal zone near Cesenatico (Adriatic Sea, Italy). The fresh water is dispersed by the Canal Harbor mouth in open sea. Surface lagrangian paths, acquired by innovative properly designed drifters, have allowed the validation of the hydrodynamic model. During the first campaign the hydrodynamic is driven only by the tidal oscillation and during the second also by surface wind, the tested conditions were, so, different and interesting for the understanding of the complex dynamic. The presented study can represent a tool useful for the water quality coastal management.

Freshwater Dispersion Plume in the Sea: Dynamic Description and Case Study

An interesting mesoscale feature of continental and shelf sea is the plumes produced by the continuous discharge of fresh water from a coastal buoyancy source (rivers, estuarine or channel). The general spreading of freshwater plume depends on a large number of factors: tide, out flowing discharge, wind, local bathymetry, Coriolis acceleration, inlet width and depth. The discharge of freshwater from coastal sources drives an important coastal dynamic, with significant gradients of salinity. These phenomena are highly dynamic and have several effects on the coastal zone, such as reducing salinity, changing continuously the vertical profiles and distribution of parameters, such as dissolved matters, pollutants and nutrients (Jouanneau & Latouche, 1982; Fichez et al., 1992; Grimes & Kingford, 1996; Duran et al., 2002; Froidefond et al., 1998; Broche et al., 1998; Mestres et al., 2003; Mestres et al., 2007). As a result of these effects, several classification schemes based on simple plume properties have been proposed in an attempt to predict the overall shape and scale of plumes. Kourafalou et al. (1996) classified plumes as supercritical and subcritical, according to the ratio between the outflow and the shear velocity. Yankovsky and Chapman (1997) derived two length scales based on outflow properties (velocity, depth and density anomaly) and used them to discriminate between bottom-advected, intermediate and surface-advected plumes, depending on the vertical and horizontal density gradients near the plume front; in spite of the absence of external forcing mechanisms in their theory, they correctly predicted the plume type for several numerical and real cases. Garvine (1987) classified plumes as supercritical or subcritical using the ratio of horizontal discharge velocity to internal wave phase speed and he later proposed (Garvine, 1995) a classification system based on bulk properties of the buoyant discharge. Referenced plume studies present numerical modelling of the case, in situ observations (Sherwin et al., 1997; Warrick & Stevens, 2011; Ogston et al., 2000), satellite observations (Di Giacomo et al., 2004; Nezlin and Di Giacomo, 2005; Molleri et al., 2010) or aerial photographs (Figueiredo da Silva et al., 2002; Burrage et al., 2008). In several cases two techniques are coupled (O’Donnell, 1990; Stumpf et al., 1993; Froidefond et al., 1998; Siegel et al., 1999). In this work a freshwater dispersion by a canal harbour into open sea is described in depth with the aim of a 3D numerical model and with the validation of in situ measurements carried out with innovative instruments. The measurements appear in literature for the first